Heart A-Hack
by writeonblueeyes517
Summary: Dina Trieson is a normal teenager with an average teen life...That is, until the government calls upon her and her computer skills to stop an elusive hacker rampaging throughout their security system. What happens however when Dina starts to get to know the bad guy...And realizes that she might just be falling for him in the process? Young Justice computer Hacker AU. No superpowers
1. Prologue

I had a friend ask me to write a Young Justice story about Robin (his favorite character), and an OC of mine that he absolutely loved. Her name is Sarina (sa-ree-na) or Dina (dee-na) for short, Trieson (try-son). So, hope you guys all enjoy this new Young Justice AU!

Brilliance that people don't understand, they shun.

Things that people don't understand, they shun.

People that people don't understand, they shun.

So by a simple deduction, people shunned me.

I wasn't a cheerleader, or a piano prodigy, or some popular, fashion forward girl.

I was a nerd. To put it lightly anyway.

The computer lab was my home, the place where I felt that I could be myself without having to explain why I could configure programs that no one had even ever heard of.

I felt like I could conquer the world when I was behind a screen.

And then I would step outside that room and reality would give me a nice, solid punch in the face.

I would retreat into myself, my whole focus becoming staying alive long enough by being trampled in order to make it to my next class in the building.

I would sit in my seat near the back, in between my two best friends in the entire world, and really my only friends that I had ever had my whole life. They had been with me through thick and thin, and we had made a pact that we would remain friends for as long as we had breath in our lungs.

Wally West. A science nerd, with grades better than pretty much anyone else in that subject at the school, including my own grades. The only reason that anyone bothered to give him any attention, was due to the fact that he had lead our track team to victory three straight years and was about to do it for the fourth time. His red hair was unmistakable, giving us a fixed point of reference pretty much anywhere that we were, and his bright, green eyes had been trained to understand the different habits of almost every person that he came across in mere minutes. An outrageous flirt, Wally was the only one who realized that the only girl for him was the blonde that sat two seats behind him.

Artemis Crock. Tough girl, with a severe loyalty to her friends and killer aim. She wouldn't take any guff from anyone and no one would dare to question her, sometimes even teachers. She was an all-star archer and had been the founding member of Dart Club which had gained quite a bit of attention as well as many new members over the two years of its existence. Strong-willed and very secretive, Artemis was the kind of person that would never easily admit to anything, especially the deep, dark, secret that she had a crush on the other member of our trio. Her long blonde hair was always in a ponytail and her brown eyes were more keen as the years progressed.

And then there was me. Sarina Trieson. Better known as Dina, I was the geek of the group, always carrying around my laptop, tablet, or phone (or all three) to better complete my latest complex program. I was always looking for a new website with security that I could crack, and fellow students that I could bust for cheating on the last Algebra test. I never really saw myself as anything special or significant, but my friends insisted that I had an incredible mind, one that belonged to a Computer Scientist graduate in their thirties with seven degrees. My shoulder length black hair was always half up in a ponytail and half down, my blue eyes never resting once they made contact with a screen of any kind. Everyone assumed that I was a normal teenage girl, texting her life away. But I wasn't. While everyone else was playing Star Force Empire and posting ridiculous duck face pictures of themselves to social media, I was figuring out what was _actually_ in the meat of the burgers at Spicer's. No one ever knew what I did in my spare time or when I was left alone on my phone.

And then, that all changed.

And this, is how.


	2. Meeting

The shrill beeping of the alarm clock rang throughout the room for a mere moment before it was soon silenced, a hand shooting out from underneath a pile of blankets to perform the duty.

A head of wild black hair soon followed, the girl practically vaulting from the bed as she threw her covers to the side.

She easily tamed her black shoulder-length hair with her brush, pulling half of it into a ponytail and letting the other half stay free.

She grabbed a pair of jeans and a graphic tee from her dresser, changing out of her pajamas and into the newly selected clothing. A grey pair of socks were shortly followed by a pair of purple Converse, and she easily slipped a grey and blue hoodie over her head to complete the ensemble.

She examined herself in the mirror for a minute before she nodded her approval, grabbing her backpack from off of the hook on the back of her closet door. She quickly but neatly made her bed before she left her room, closing the door behind herself.

She cautiously made her way downstairs, avoiding all the squeaky stairs by sliding down the banister. She had learned a long time ago how this house worked, and where every noisy floorboard or door hinge was located.

She cautiously made her way through the kitchen, her sneakers barely making a single sound as she snuck across the tile floored room. She grabbed an apple from the bowl in the center of the kitchen island before she exited the house, soundlessly closing the previously squeaky door as she left.

She breathed a deep sigh of relief, smiling as she began her trek to the high school.

She tossed her apple into the air, catching it with the opposite hand that she had thrown it with and took a bite. The crisp flavor filled her mouth and made her sigh as the sweetness hit her tongue.

She loved this time of year. The leaves of the trees were beginning to turn, people were pulling out there thicker coats from the dark recesses of their closets, and the air was turning crisp and cool that brought about a strange sense of warmth with it.

She Had soon finished her simple breakfast, tossing the core into a nearby garbage can, the metal rattling as the piece of trash made contact with the side of it.

The sun had started to rise when she had left the house, and now, the rays of light were spreading across the world of New York, bringing a beautiful mix of oranges and reds to the city that few people would notice or take the time to look at.

Now Gotham High School had a rather straight forward route, but Sarina Trieson had never been a typical girl. Instead of walking the main sidewalk all the way there, Dina had found a shortcut through one of the side streets, a route which she had calculated saved her a whole four minutes twenty-one seconds on the daily commute.

For most people, a dark alley would have seemed pointless and frightening, something to avoid at all costs, but Dina had never been afraid of the dark for some inexplicable reason. Instead, she saw it as an opportunity, one that she gladly decided to take a chance on.

She safely made it through the crowded alley way and back into the sunlight where she shielded her eyes from the brightness.

"Target sighted," she thought to herself as the school came into view.

It was smooth sailing from here on out. At least, until she actually made into the building where throngs of students who didn't know she existed were gathering to discuss last night's football game results or the latest army enhancement feature on the Battle Inferno app.

Smooth sailing alright.

Dina was cautious as she opened the double doors, teenagers standing, talking, walking, and just plain taking up space.

She tried her best to squeeze through the groups of students in the halls, but it proved to be more futile than she had originally thought.

A hand suddenly grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards the far lockers and out of the sizable amount of students that she currently found herself in.

Once she had been set free from her prison and could properly open her eyes, Dina saw the two most familiar faces in the world in front of her.

"Thanks Wally! It's worse than normal today," she told the redhead who had rescued her.

"No kidding! Their worse than the bugs on the bumper of my uncle's car! Now let's get out of here before they decide to start moving this way," he said, motioning down the hall with a nod of his head.

The two girls nodded their agreement with the boy, swiftly making their way towards Algebra.

Their seats were near the back, Artemis sat in the last desk of the row, Dina sat at the desk in front of her, and Wally sat at the desk in front of Dina. They had come up with this seating arrangement all the way back in first grade when they had all first met each other.

Students continued to file into the room, taking their seats and muttering to each other before they parted ways.

Dina watched them, keen, blue eyes taking in every detail that they could.

She had never been what everyone would consider "normal", learning more in a classroom than what was ever taught her.

Before she could deduce anything that anyone had had for breakfast that morning however, Mr. Taylor began taking roll.

"Amber Tate," the teacher said with as much enthusiasm as all the students in the room felt.

A brunette girl raised her hand, speaking a barely audible "Here,".

"Sarina Trieson,"

She had known that she was next, raising her hand and clearly pronouncing "Present,"even before she had heard her name completely.

The lesson was monotonous, fractions seeming more and more useless as time went on, making the sound of the bell a welcome relief. All except for Dina.

"I know that look," Artemis told her as she threw her messenger bag's strap over her shoulder.

"What look?" Dina asked, almost convincing her best friend that she truly was confused.

"That look. The one you have right now. The, class-is-over-and-that-means-that-I-have-to-face-the-crowd-of-teenagers-just-outside-the-door look," the blonde explained, folding her arms.

"She's right Dina. You do have that look again," Wally agreed.

"Wallace West! Did I just hear you correctly? Did you just say that Artemis was right?" Dina asked, shock spreading across her face.

"Well, I-uh, I. Don't change the subject!" Wally said, pointing an accusatory finger at the black-haired girl.

Dina laughed at the expression on the redheaded boy's face, her usual jovial attitude returning as her concerns were quickly forgotten. After her laughter died down, Dina looked down at her watch, letting her friends know that if they didn't hurry they would all be late for English class.

Despite the fact that the traffic in the halls was not much better than before Algebra and the late time that they had left the classroom, they still arrived at English before a decent amount of the students.

Several students came in at the last possible second, sliding into their seats before the teacher had a chance to turn around and reprimand them.

"All right class settle down!" Ms. Morse said cheerfully as she closed the door to the room.

Artemis, Wally, and Dina all breathed a unitary sigh of relief.

Their sense of peace was almost immediately shattered.

The static of the intercom system crackled announcing the fact that the principal was about to make an announcement.

"Sarina Trieson to the principal's office," Principal Queen's voice rang over the speakers. "Ms. Sarina Trieson to the principal's office," he repeated.

Every student in the room gasped, oohed, or let Dina know that she was in trouble.

"What did you do?" Artemis hissed, leaning forward in her desk so that Dina would be the only one to hear her.

"Nothing! At least not anything illegal!" Dina whispered, panic surging through her voice and her veins.

If looks could have killed, Dina would have fallen over at that very moment, Artemis Crock being the guilty party.

The principal's voice repeated his previous message, the urgency a little more prominent than the last two times.

"You're free to go, Dina," Ms. Morse said, a disappointed look on her face.

Dina wracked her brain as to what she could have possibly done as she walked the empty halls. Before she knew it, she was standing outside the Principal's office door, his name printed on the wooden door in clean, black letters. She took a deep breath, trying her best to calm her nerves before she lifted her fist to the door and knocked.

"Come in," she heard the familiar voice of Principal Queen say, slightly muffled by the fact that he was on the other side of the door.

Dina took another deep breath before she twisted the knob and pushed the door open.

The sight that greeted her was not what she had been expecting.

Principal Queen was sitting at his wooden desk, his white dress shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows like usual. The only thing that was out of place were the three other people in the room. A woman in her mid thirties with dark brown hair done up in a very professional looking bun. Her pant suit was immaculate, and she permeated the room with a sense of professionalism like the teenager had never seen. The first man was tall, his blonde hair and goatee a striking combination with his bright green eyes. He was most likely in his late twenties, a more casual air about him. His less professional garb than the woman was around the same style as Principal Queen's, minus the tie. The other man was clearly younger than the other two people, his garb similar to that of the other man. His brown seemed to constantly be moved out of his eyes which were nearly the same shade as his hair. He carried a messenger bag, the single strap slung across his body.

"Ah! Dina! Please, come in," Principal Queen said to her.

His currently cheerful attitude contradicted his worried tone from earlier that had been expressed over the intercom system.

"You wanted to see me Principal Queen?" she asked.

"Yes. Please, have a seat," he told her, motioning to the chair on the opposite side of his desk.

Dina simply nodded, keeping the three strangers within her peripheral vision as she took the offered seat.

"This is your expert?" the woman asked, her tone skeptical.

The principal nodded.

"She's the best that there is," he told her.

"I don't think,"

"FBI," Dina interrupted the woman.

"Excuse me?" she asked, her attention turning to the teenager who had just spoken, offended by her forwardness.

"FBI. That's what you are, correct?" Dina clarified.

"Well yes, but,"

"My guess is the Cybercrime devision," Dina said.

"And how exactly would you know that?" the woman demanded.

"First off, the young guy is obviously not used to being around so many people by how uncomfortable he is at the moment. Meaning, that he spends a lot of time working by himself or with people of like mind which you are clearly not. That means that he's a computer genius, hence, Cybercrime. He also seems to be a new addition to your team. Otherwise, he would be comfortable enough to stop playing with the collar of his shirt. A nervous habit I'm assuming,"

The woman's brown eyes grew slightly at the girl's perception.

"Also, he keeps a hand on some part of his bag at all times, whether it's the strap or the actual body of the bag. That means something extremely important is in there. Judging from the size and style, I would say a laptop computer, an external hard drive, aaaaand…" Dina paused a moment to examine the bag for another moment before replying with, "a usb wireless adapter. Another strong indicator towards his occupation,"

"Is she right?" Principal Queen asked, turning his attention to the younger man.

"Uh y-yeah. She is," he stuttered, nodding.

"Are you convinced?" the principal asked the woman, a pleased expression on his face at his student's performance.

"Not yet," she told him.

"Your other 'teammate' is clearly a field agent, I would say forensic analyst from the looks of him,"

"And how do you know that?" the woman asked, turning her attention back to the girl, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"You just told me," Dina said, a smirk spreading across her face.

"And how did you know before I supposedly told you?" she asked.

"He looks like a forensic analyst. Not everything is scientific you know. Oh, he's also a weapons expert, specifically in the area of handguns,"

"Let me guess, he just looks like he would do that?"

"No actually. He has slight traces of gun powder residue on his wrists, the kind that is used in handguns. He would only have that kind of residue on his wrists if he regularly wore gloves. And telling by his current style, he typically rolls his sleeves up leaving his wrists exposed to the powder. I would also say that he was a sniper in the military before he joined the FBI. He has a typical military haircut and takes in his surroundings quite frequently yet very inconspicuously. He's already looked over me three times, determining weather or not I'm a threat. Typical habits of any sniper in the service for several years,"

"And me?" she asked haughtily, believing that she would easily be able to stump the girl.

"You're Senior Special Agent Abigail Peters. You have a black cat, you were previously in homicide with NYPD, and you were recently out west. Canada I'd say,"

"How did you know all that?" the woman demanded, her eyes wide and her words accusatory.

"First of all, you have a few black hairs on the sleeves of your blazer, as well as on you one pant leg. That means you have a pet that rubs up against you leg but is small enough that you can hold and you do quite regularly. So my guess would be a cat. Second, you have a slight notch in your belt from sliding a badge on and off. That is typical for officers in the police department. NYPD, because you are clearly from New York with that slight accent of yours. Lastly, you glanced at you watch when I came in, taking a little longer than anyone normally would when looking at a digital wristwatch. I noticed when you put your hand in your pocket, that your watch was set two hours behind mine, meaning that you were out west. I assumed Canada since there was recently an incident involving a retired FBI agent out there in Calgary, Alberta. Something that you would be required to investigate personally,"

"And my name? How did you know that? Deduce it from computer keyboard key letters imprinted onto my fingers?" she asked sarcastically.

"I do watch the news you know. It's not like your name doesn't frequent all of the government sites either," Dina replied, just as much sass in her voice.

"Well Abbie? She convince you yet?" Principal Queen asked, a smile threatening at the corner of his mouth.

"I want to see her skills with a computer first,"

"Would someone just like to tell me why I'm here in the first place?" Dina asked, getting exasperatedly that she was being treated like she wasn't presently in the room.

"Ms. Trieson,"

"Dina please," Dina interrupted the woman, causing her eye to twitch.

"Very well, Dina. Mr. Queen tells me that you are quite well-versed when it comes to computers and technology,"

Dina shrugged.

"Depends. What are you looking for?"

"To put it simply, a hacker," Ms. Peters explained.

"Why?"

Abigail sighed.

"What I am about to tell you, cannot leave this room. Ever. You must keep this to yourself. It is a matter of national security,"

"Alright. Do you want me to swear on the Bible or something?" she asked, being completely serious.

"Are you serious?" Abigail asked dryly.

"Yes Abbie. She is," Principal Queen told her.

"Fine. Oliver, you have a Bible?" she asked the blonde principal.

"Of course," he replied, opening one of his drawers and sifting through it before he found what he was looking for, handing the black, leather book to the woman.

"Thank you,"

She paused when she back towards Dina, aware that she really had no idea what she was supposed to do now.

"Mayhem, you know anything about this sort of… Thing?" she asked the taller of her two companions.

"Sure do chief," he told her, walking up and receiving the Bible that she held out to him.

"Place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right," he told Dina.

She obeyed, placing the appropriate hand on top of the book held towards her while raising the other into the air.

"Do you solemnly swear to tell no one outside the confines of this room what you are about to hear now?" he asked her.

"I solemnly swear to tell no one what I am about to hear,"

"Are you willing to take the consequences should you deviate from your word in any way?"

Dina took a deep breath, thinking about what had just been asked of her.

She sighed, sure of her answer.

"I am," she replied firmly.

"Very well," Mayhem told the teenager, nodding his approval.

"Was all that really necessary?" Abigail asked him as he handed the Bible back to the principal.

"Hey! You told me to do it professionally. I wanted to do it right. Even if there really is no procedure for this sort of thing," he told her.

Abigail rolled her eyes.

"So anyone going to explain exactly why I was pulled away in the middle of English class in front of all my peers?" Dina asked, folding her arms.

"Ms… Excuse me. Dina, we need to catch an extremely dangerous hacker. One who has leaked very secretive and sensitive information out. If he is not stopped soon, he could wreak havoc in more than just New York,"

"What kind of information?" she asked, immediately intrigued.

"Let's just say, the kind we don't want to be allowed into the wrong hands,"

"That kind,"

"Yes. Will you agree to help us?" Abigail asked the girl, her posture entirely professional but her brown eyes were pleading.

Dina pondered the question for a moment, going over pros and cons in her mind.

"Why come to me?" she finally asked.

"Because frankly," Ms. Peters sighed, phrasing her words in her mind exactly how she had practiced them in the mirror.

"You're our last chance,"

"And why not ask your big-wig professionals to get on the case? Get them to catch this hacker,"

Mayhem stepped forward letting his leader know that he would handle this.

"We had one of our best on this case Dina. And just when he was about to crack the code, he died in a car accident," he explained.

"Well that's convenient," Dina thought to herself.

"We need someone who knows the inner workings of the web just like

Logan did. You are our best chance at catching and exposing this guy. We've heard what you can do, and I honestly believe that you can get the results that Logan was looking for," he explained to her, kneeling down so that they were at near the same eye level.

Dina looked down at the floor, trying her best to figure out this situation with a rational mind.

"So whatcha say? You in?" Mayhem asked her.

She lifted her gaze to meet the blonde man's green eyes.

She didn't know what it was, but she trusted this guy. She felt as if he could never tell a lie to her despite the fact that she knew next to nothing about him. It was as if he was letting her know in his own way, that he believed in her. And barely anyone ever believed in her.

What was even more odd, was that she found herself wanting to believe the silent words hidden in those bright eyes. She needed to believe them.

She looked from her principal, to Ms. Peters, to the young tech guy standing against the wall and messing with his dress shirt collar again.

Then her eyes landed back on the man in front of her, and his unsaid plea.

She sighed, knowing what she had to do, and understanding the risk that she would be putting herself in.

As well as anyone she was connected with who she kept the secret from.

Eventually she made her decision, nodding to the four people who had their eyes glued to her expectantly.

"Ok," she told them.

I'm in,"


	3. Decision

"Awesome!" Mayhem exclaimed, getting up from his knees and offering Dina his hand for a high five which she gave to him.

He smiled happily at her, pleased with her decision.

She couldn't help but smile back.

"Now that you are on board, there are adjustments that will need to be made. To insure your complete and total cooperation with this, we will have you at our disposal four days out of the week. You may choose which four, but it has to be at least that many days in order to try and create contact with our hacker as soon as possible. You will be provided with a tutor on the days that you cannot attend school, and we will come up with a viable excuse for you on those days as well. You,"

"Wait. You never told me I would have to give up school to do this. What about my friends?" Dina interrupted Ms. Peters.

"You're a clever girl Ms. Trieson. I'm sure you can come up with a decent excuse," Abigail told her, dismissing her earlier name preference.

"You don't know my friends. They aren't you're average teenagers,"

"And neither are you,"

"I know that. But I'm warning you now, if they figure it out on their own, I am not responsible,"

"Fair enough," Ms. Peters said, not at all believing what Dina had said.

Silence settled into the room quickly after that, Dina growing more and more uncomfortable by the second.

Then Principal Queen cleared his throat.

"You may go Dina," he told her as if this had just been a normal conversation and she had been called his office for the average reason.

"We haven't established all of the necessary pro,"

"Ms. Peters, as long as you are in my office and my school, I have the power. My job is to make sure that all students learn something every day. Dina has done everything that she can today and will now return to class before the entire day is over. Now you worry about your job, and let me do mine," he told her.

Abigail was taken back for a moment by his forwardness and by the fact that Oliver had referred to her by Ms. Peters instead of her first name like he usually did.

"Very well. She may go," the woman finally agreed.

"Here's my card should you need to contact us. We will establish contact with you two days from now. The details will all be given to you then," Mayhem told her, handing her a white business card.

Dina nodded and thanked him.

She nodded one more time to everyone in the room in order to acknowledge them before she turned towards the door and left.

All hell broke loose as soon as the knob had stopped turning.

"Are you crazy?" Abigail hissed, her hands slamming on the principal's desk.

"Abbie, she a fifteen-year-old junior in high school. If you think she made it here just by pure luck, then you are dead wrong. Dina is one of the most hardworking students I have ever met in my eight years here. And she needs to have some semblance of a normal teenagers life,"

"Yes but,"

Oliver held up his hand to silence her.

"Her friends, her computer, and classes are what she lives for. I can't take the only things that she loves away from her,"

"Fair enough I suppose," abigail muttered.

A million thoughts were racing around in Dina's head as she made her way down the empty halls towards science class. She had checked her watch seconds after she had left Principal Queen's office and knew in an instant that she had missed all of English. The next class on the schedule was science, a class she could never miss if she wanted to remain Wally's friend.

It wasn't hard to sneak into the class, Mr. Allen completely engrossed in his explanation of the element helium, trying his best to explain it to his class by drawing pictures on the white board.

It really was a good thing that Mr. Allen was the science teacher and not the art teacher. Otherwise, he would be out of a job.

"Where have you been?" Wally hissed, turning around in his seat faster than was thought to be humanly possible.

"I'll tell you later," Dina muttered through gritted teeth.

"You'll tell me now!" Wally whispered, his green eyes full of fury.

"I. Will. Tell. You. Later," Dina told him, pronouncing every word individually as if that would help the redheaded boy understand better.

It apparently did when Wally turned back around in his desk, huffing in indignation.

"Alright, now who can tell me the atomic symbol for neon?" Mr. Allen asked.

He looked around the room, not surprised that the only hand raised was that of his nephew.

He sighed.

"Anyone besides Wally?"

"Hey!" Wally cried.

No one budged.

Mr. Allen sighed again, disappointed that no one else was making the effort.

Then a hand shot up.

"Yes! Finally! Dina," he called on the black-haired girl.

"Uppercase h, lowercase e,"

"Wonderful! Let's try a harder one. How about darmstadtium? What is its atomic symbol?"

"Easy. Uppercase d, lowercase s," she replied.

"And what is its atomic number?"

"One hundred ten," she said.

"Excellent! Anyone know the atomic symbol for zinc?" he looked around the room and couldn't stop a smile from forming on his face when Artemis raised her hand.

"Zc," she said, proud of the fact that she could at least remember that one.

"Yes! Thank you! See! Some of you are getting this! Alright someone name me the atomic symbol for calcium. Kal," he said, pointing to another student who had raised his hand.

"Uppercase c, lowercase a," he said properly.

"Yes! Finally!" he exclaimed excitedly, clapping his hands together extremely fast. "Someone besides Wally is learning," he muttered under his breath.

Dina held back a snicker, cleverly disguising it as a sneeze rather than a cough.

"Bless you," Mr. Allen told her before he turned back to the whiteboard and started drawing the periodic table outline.

Science class normally went by quite speedily, but today it seemed to have slowed down to a crawl.

Dina began to get antsy, knowing that the second that class was over she would get a full blown interrogation from Wally with Artemis trying to keep him from choking the black-haired girl or do something else that he might later regret.

As soon as the bell had rung, Dina made a break for the door.

Her path was clear, and it seemed as if she was home free, when suddenly an unknown force grabbed her by the arm, pulling her back into the room and away from freedom.

She was plopped down into her seat, the unknown force from before revealing itself to be Wally West himself.

The rest of the students would have stopped for a moment to watch the display if Mr. Allen hadn't ushered them out of the room, encouraging them to go enjoy the two minutes they had before their next class.

"Alright. Tell me right now what was so utterly important that you missed all of English class and almost missed the most amazing subject in the known universe?" he asked her.

"Over dramatic much," Artemis muttered, leaning against the wall.

"Principal Queen just wanted to see me about a job he needs me to do,"

The fact that it was a job that the FBI was in on would do anything but calm her irate friend at the moment.

"Sure. Like we're supposed to believe that!"

"Well you are, because it's the truth," she told him honestly.

"At least most of it is anyway," she added in her own thoughts.

"Uncle Barry help me out!" Wally called to the science teacher, who was at the front of the room erasing the whiteboard.

"Sorry Wally. I'm staying out of this!" he told his nephew, raising his hands in a defensive manner.

"Oh come on! You too Uncle Barry?"

"What Dina does for Principal Queen is nobody else's business. Least of all your's"

"She was in there way too long for it to be just a regular meeting," he said, looking at Dina out of the corner of his eye with a rather suspicious expression.

"What a minute. You weren't angry with her because she missed science class," Artemis said suddenly, the pieces of the current predicament clicking together in her mind. "You were upset because you thought that she might be in trouble,"

"Wally West. Were you…" Dina paused in the middle of her thought, more so for effect than anything else. "Worried about me?" she asked playfully.

"No! I don't have a clue what you're talking about!" he replied hastily, turning away from his friends and folding his arms.

"You were! You were worried that I had gotten in trouble with Principal Queen!" Dina teased him.

"I was not! I thought it was just odd that he would talk to you for long, that's all," he defended himself.

Dina sighed, figuring out the best way to word what she wanted to say.

"You guys have nothing to worry about. You two will be the first that I tell anything about this if I need to. You just need to trust me,"

"We trust you," Artemis told her, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Thanks Artemis," Dina said, standing from her seat and giving the blonde a hug, which she readily returned.

"Stop pouting Wally and make this a group hug," Artemis ordered him.

"Fine," he muttered, joining his friends in their embrace.

"Although I love seeing friends getting reunited, I would prefer for you to not do it in my classroom and in the process, be late for your next class," Mr. Allen interrupted the group.

All three of them sighed, but parted from their hug anyway, waving to Mr. Allen as they left.

"Here's your backpack by the way. You left it in English, so I grabbed it for you," Artemis said, handing Dina her bag.

"Oh thanks! I can't believe I forgot that!" Dina admitted, taking her backpack and slinging one of the straps over her shoulder.

"Me either. You never leave it behind," the blonde girl reminded her.

"I know. I guess I was just so preoccupied with the fact that the principal wanted to see me, that I forgot all about it," she explained.

"Makes sense," Wally told her, actually sounding like he was being genuine.

"Thanks Wall-man. So, does that mean you forgive me for missing science class and worrying you half to death?"

"Yes, this means I… I was not worried!" Wally interrupted himself as soon as the words that Dina had said had sunk in.

"He totally was! He looked at the door nearly every five minutes," Artemis told Dina, trying to hold back a smirk but miserably failing.

Wally tossed the girls an expression that could have only been described as an "If-you-keep-bringing-this-up-I-will-unfriend-you-and-not-just-on-Twitter-either," look.

Dina knew she had to dissolve the tension that was rearing its ugly head again. And fast.

"That's so sweet Wally. But you don't have to worry. Neither of you do," she told them, looking at the friends walking on either side of her. "I'm fine,"

"We believe you Dina. We always will," Artemis told her, pausing at the door to History class.

"Thanks Art," Dina said with a big sigh of relief, a smile spreading across her face.

"We will. And we know that whatever Principal Queen needs you to do, you're gonna rock it!" Wally added.

"Thanks guys!" Dina thanked them.

"Any time," her friends said in unison.

Artemis turned the knob and opened the door, the three teenagers entering the room just before the class started.

Dina sighed as she sat in her seat between her two best friends in the entire world, more on her mind than any regular fifteen-year-old should have.

One thought was running through her brain over and over.

"I won't let you guys down,"

She only hoped that it was the truth.

Because if it wasn't, she would be more than just grounded.


	4. Beginning

Dina enjoyed Wednesday more than any teenager should, but seeing as it could quite possibly be her last day of freedom before turning into a full-blown hacker tracker, she decided to make the most out of it.

Thursday came far too soon.

She rolled over, turning her alarm clock off and checking her phone to make sure of the date.

Thursday.

That was all she saw.

That was all she needed to see.

Today was the day when her entire life would change. The day when she would no longer be simply a fifteen-year-old high school junior, but also an FBI Cybercrime consultant. AbigailPeters had told her via email that they would meet her at the high school and take her to their headquarters from there.

Dina was probably the only teenager in the world who would have preferred to stay at school all day instead.

She sighed, flipping off her covers and placed her bare feet on the floor.

She went through her daily routine, putting on blue Converse, jeans, and a matching hoodie. She grabbed her backpack from it hook, her laptop from her desk, and her cell phone from her dresser, unplugging it from its charge chord.

She swiftly and silently made her way downstairs and through the kitchen, snatching a banana from the fruit bowl on the counter as she left.

Walking to school seemed like every other time, but she knew something was different.

She could feel it.

Very cautiously, she examined her surroundings, searching for anything that was out of place.

In only a few seconds, she noticed a dark blue Mustang, a vehicle that she knew didn't belong to anyone in the area.

Dina did her best to keep her panic out of her physical reactions when she saw the car begin to slowly move forward… In her direction.

As the vehicle got closer, she let out the breath she had secretly been holding, all fear draining from her.

"Need a ride?" Mayhem asked, driving up to the curb and rolling his window down.

"No thanks," she said politely, smiling at him warmly despite the fact that he had scared her death only a moment earlier.

"How come?" he asked her, keeping her pace up with his car.

"I want to treat this like a normal school day as much as possible, and I normally walk to school," she explained, continuing her trek.

"Alright," Mayhem said, parking his car.

Dina heard the sound of his car door being opened and then closed, closely followed by the chirp of the vehicle being locked.

"What are you doing?" she asked him as he soon joined her, walking in step with her.

"Coming with you. I want to make sure you make it to school safely. Besides, I could use the exercise," he explained, smiling and winking at her.

She rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway.

"I don't need protection you know. I can take care of myself," she told him, not wanting him to worry about her unnecessarily.

"Oh really? And how exactly do you do that?" he asked her, his curiosity piqued.

"My Dad taught me karate. Plus I was a gymnast for the first half of my life,"

"Really? He still teach you?"

"Uh, no. He um, h-he died when I was younger," Dina stuttered.

"Oh. I'm so sorry. I had no idea," he apologized to her, remorse embedded deep into his words.

"It's fine. There was no way you could've known. I like to think that he would be proud of me. Using my talents to help people,"

"I'm sure he would be,"

Dina thanked him, looking up into his eyes and smiling.

"And you? What does Jason Mayhem do with his life?" she asked him.

"Figured out my first name huh? How'd you do it this time? Deduce it from the number sequence on my license plate? You were able to identify my exact age and determine from my generation which boy names were the most popular back then, choosing the top 'J' result just because? Or do I just look like a Jason to you?"

"No! None of those. You gave me your business card yesterday and your first name was on it,"

"Right," he said, snapping his fingers as he recalled the moment to which she was referring.

They continued to walk, a comfortable silence settling between the two and despite the fact that she wasn't walking alone like she regularly did, Dina felt a sense of contentment and ease. There was just a feeling of normalcy to it all.

"Ok, so one thing I really wanna know, is how you were able to figure out all that information yesterday about Peters, Yizovski, and myself?" Jason asked, interrupting the moment of quiet.

"When I was ten, I had a friend who introduced me to the Sherlock Holmes novels. We would read them together whenever we needed comfort and would try to figure things out before Sherlock did. We eventually started paying attention to the little details about people all around us, becoming our own little versions of the detective. It just sort of became a habit after that," she explained.

"That is one of the coolest things I've ever heard. My best friend and I would pretend that we were the Hardy boys. We would 'solve' mysteries and crimes around our neighborhood, making up the plot as we went,"

"Sounds fun," Dina said, smiling as she imagined two young boys hanging out in a tree fort and writing stories in their squiggly handwriting.

"It was," Jason said thoughtfully, remembering the good times.

They were beginning to get closer to the school, and Dina realized just how close when she saw the entrance of her shortcut street.

She didn't even hesitate in moving away from the sidewalk.

"Um, you do realize the school is this way, right?" Jason asked her, concern spreading across his face.

"Of course. But this is a shortcut,"

He didn't look convinced.

"Don't worry. I take this route every single time and have never had to deal with any robbers," she told him.

He hesitated, but soon joined her, following her down the alley way despite the fact that he was still quite hesitant.

"You sure this is safe?" he asked her, pushing past an old trash can.

"Is the big military man scared of one alley?" she teased him, stepping over a crushed pop can.

"Of course not. I'm just concerned about you,"

"Nice save," she told him, warning him about the broken bottle afterwards. "you're not the first one to question my decision to come through here. My friend Wally refused to use this even if it was a shortcut,"

"Really? Wonder why," Jason said sarcastically, narrowly avoiding a broken wood palette.

"He likes the world to be flat. That way he can see everything stretch out in front of him and he can run for hours,"

Before Jason had a chance to ask her anymore questions, they had emerged from the alley.

"Four minutes ahead of schedule," Dina said happily, looking at her watch.

The pair walked through the double doors just as a main stream of students started to come into the building.

"This way," Jason told her, gesturing to the opposite side of the hall of what Dina normally traveled.

She followed him, students passing by them on both sides in both the same direction and the opposite one.

They made it to one of the exits, Jason examining their surroundings carefully before he opened the door for her. He followed closely after her, making sure the door closed completely.

He lead her to the parking lot at the back of the building where the teachers usually parked. A black Infinity was off by itself, waiting for them.

Dina took a deep breath before she entered the car through the back door that Jason held open for her.

"this is it," she thought. "The beginning of my double life,"

The ride was very uneventful, no conversation, music, or even interesting noises. The only sounds that were heard were the steady breathing of the driver and two passengers, the smooth sound of the tires against the road, and the occasional clicking of the turn signal.

After what seemed like an eternity, they pulled up to a warehouse looking building, the grey metal exterior giving it a slightly industrial look.

Jason opened her door for her and she stepped out of the vehicle, taking in her surroundings.

They were just on the outskirts of Gotham City, most likely between the city and one of its suburbs. The city skyline could easily be seen from where she stood, the exact area where Gotham High was located still in rather close proximity. For having felt like forever to get here, it really wasn't far at all.

Dina turned towards the building, noticing that there really was not much to it. There weren't even any windows. Or at least, none that she could see.

Jason motioned for her to follow him, which she did, pulling the straps of her backpack a little tighter against her shoulders.

"Ms. Trieson. Glad you could actually make it," Ms Peters told her, completely forgetting Dina's name preference. "Ready to begin?"

"Unless you wanted me here to attend a birthday party," she replied sarcastically.

"Funny. Follow me," the woman said, clearly unamused.

Dina stayed a short distance away from Ms. Peters as she lead her down a hall.

Dina had to admit, the outside of the building did not give away any idea of what the interior was like. The hall they were heading down was lined on either side by doors both closed and open, people coming and going continuously. She was able to get sneak peeks at the equipment with the rooms, high tech computers and the latest technology right at each person's fingertips.

Ms. Peters stopped at a door about half way down and on the left side of the huge hallway, taking out a key and unlocking the room.

Dina took a moment to look around the room. Monitors were on one wall of the room, keyboards hooked up to each one. Four different desks were set up, each obviously a different station than the others. A variety of devices were displayed on a table off to the side. The one thing that Dina noticed almost immediately was that the floor was carpeted, something that she already loved.

"This will be you headquarters. Any research that you do on this case outside of the confines of this building or room will need to be monitored by one of our other personnel. You can contact Mayhem at any time. He is at your disposal, as is all of the equipment in the building. You must earn higher clearance levels through the work that you do for us on this case. Any questions?"

"I have one," Dina told Abigail, turning to face her.

"And what would that be?" she asked, folding her arms.

"May I use my computer?" Dina asked politely, removing the electronic device from her backpack.

"Why on earth would you want to? We have every possible convenience and piece of equipment that you could ever need in here,"

"If I remember correctly, you asked me to help you. And I don't ever telling you that I needed any of this stuff. I work best on my own computer. I would much rather prefer linking it up to your system instead of straining my neck by looking up at your jumbo trons all the time," Dina explained, her patience wearing thin with the woman.

"Fine. Whatever works for you. Just make sure you do what you're being paid for," Abigail warned her, pointing a finger at the teenager.

"Will do," the black-haired girl told her, continuing to look over the technology in the room.

"Get her situated Mayhem,"

Jason nodded.

"Yizovski, get me the case file," she told the young man from the first meeting, who nervously obeyed, abandoning what he was working on.

"H-here Agent Peters," he told her, handing her a tan file folder with the big, red word "Confidential" stamped on the front of it.

"Thank you," she replied, snatching it from his shaking hand. She looked furiously around the room as soon as she realized that the hacker was no longer standing beside her.

Dina had situated herself at one of the huge monitor's desks, typing away on her laptop.

"You'll need the password in order to get into the system so,"

"Done," the girl told her, swiveling around in the office chair to face the woman.

"How-how did you do that?" Ms. Peters asked, shocked at how quickly the girl sitting in front of her had broken their system.

"I'm a hacker, remember. This is what you hired me for. And just so you know, 'sharpshooter' is a terrible password,"

"And what would suggest we change it to?"

"Something harder! By like, oh I don't know, adding numbers? And symbols? They're on the keyboard for a reason," she said sarcastically, turning back towards her laptop.

"Well you wont be able yo bypass the higher level security. You are certainly going to need help with that," Ms. Peters said proudly.

"Just watch me," Dina stated, typing away.

A moment later, a bright red, "ACCESS DENIED" flashed across her computer screen as well as the one monitor that she was hooked up to.

"See? What did I tell you?"

"Just a minor set back," Dina muttered, completing a portion of typing before pressing enter.

Green letter flashed this time, "ACCESS GRANTED" causing Dina to spin a full circle in her chair, smirking as she passed Agent Peters.

"No one has been able to bypass the security system like that," Yizovski said, clearly in awe at the fifteen-year-old's ability.

"How did you do that?" Agent Peters demanded.

"Ah, ah, ah! A magician never reveals his secrets," she told the woman, not even bothering to turn around and face her.

"Now, tell me everything you know about this hacker of yours," Dina said, spinning back around in the office chair, coming face to face with a very irate woman.

"Here is all the info we have," she said, slamming the file onto the desk that Dina had claimed.

"This is it?" she asked, holding up the folder and raising an eyebrow skeptically.

"Huller was our previous expert. He had all the information on this case. Unfortunately, when his car crashed, all the evidence toward the case was destroyed. We believe he had almost cracked the case wide open too. Now we'll never know," she said sadly, sighing deeply in disappointment.

"Tell me about this guy," Dina ordered, putting down the folder.

"We don't even know that much,"

"You mean, you don't even know if it's a man or a woman?"

Agent Peters nodded. "That's correct,"

"Well that's just sad,"

"What do you know?"

"Whoever our hacker is, they go by the name, 'The Robin',"

"Robin? Like the bird?"

"That's right. They take exceptional pleasure in letting us know that they were behind an attack. They have never been afraid to tell us when we've been beaten,"

"Sounds like we have a Black Hat on our hands," Dina stated, gazing back at the computer screen.

"A what?" Abigail asked, completely confused by the term.

"It's a hacker who hacks into systems for personal gratification or gain. Their entire goal is to receive notoriety in the hacker world or to get some sort of physical benefit. Something like money, tools, contacts in the underground world, or simply buying forbidden items on the black market. If they hack to get secrets, they usually sell them to the highest bidder and then get a pretty hefty paycheck for their work. A white Hat on the other hand is the exact opposite. They hack into a corporation or company's system in order to let them know of any and all security gaps. Black Hats exploit weaknesses. White Hats mend weaknesses,"

"So how does that help us?"

"Because it lets me know what kind of websites I need to track. The places I need to frequent because he might frequent them as well. What sort of places has he hacked into before?"

"We aren't sure of all of them. Like I said, Huller had all of the information on the case. We have been able to recover some of the site names, but it's been slow going. Yizovski will give you a list of the ones we've been able to find again so far,"

"That'd be great. I'm also gonna need to know what sorts of things he targets. Places, people, items. Anything that might help me nail this guy,"

"Yizovski will give you what he's been able to discover. All of his findings are at your disposal,"

"Yes ma'am," the young man replied, leafing through a filing cabinet.

"All right. I will leave you to it then. Mayhem," Agent Peters called on the weapons expert.

"Yes?" he replied, immediately coming to her side.

"Keep an eye on her. We don't want any problems," she whispered, keeping the girl in the corner of her eye.

"Of course," Jason whispered in reply.

Abigail nodded, leaving the room and closing the door behind her as she left.

"Yiz-what's your first name?" Dina asked the younger man, getting exasperated with having to use his last name due to the fact that his first name was unknown to her.

"Excuse me?" he questioned her, thoroughly confused by what she had asked.

"I am not about to refer to you as Yizovski for the rest of my life. So what's your first name?"

"Uh, Adam. It's Adam," he told her.

"Adam. Much easier to remember than 'Yizovski'!" she told him, causing him to smile.

"You good with guns?" she asked out of the blue.

"N-no. Not really. Why?" he stuttered back, unsure what she was thinking.

"Because we're gonna try and shoot ourselves a robin,"

"Sounds like a plan. What did you have in mind?"

"Get me everything you can on this 'Robin'. Starting with the list of those website types that he likes. I'm also going to need all of the Intel that you can figure about this case, even if it's just a theory,"

Adam nodded,

"You got it," he said, grabbing several file folders from the filing cabinet, leaving the room and returning a moment later with three more files. They were visibly thicker than the others.

"You got any hot tea? It helps me stay awake," she explained as Adam set the files down in front of her.

"Uh, yeah. What kind you want?" he asked, rubbing his hands on the back of his jeans.

"Anything fruity. Two spoons of sugar please," she said politely.

"You got it,"

"Thank you,"

Dina turned back towards the desk, opening and examining the files that had been placed before her. From what she could tell, this looked like a normal Black Hat hacker, nothing unique or exceptionally difficult about this that she could see.

"This should have been an open and shut case. So why wasn't it?" she wondered, flipping through a list of specific sights where the hacker had been spotted.

She put aside the folders, cracking her knuckles before she continued to type. She took a deep breath and bypassed the last level of security, making it into the main database of the system.

She smiled at her success.

"Alright, let's shoot down a Robin,"


	5. Contact

The week had gone by uneventfully, no trace of the hacker named 'Robin'.

Dina was getting frustrated, sites instead of being helpful becoming a hinderance to her.

If it weren't for Agent Peters breathing down her neck, she would have done something very different from what she had been. However, with a federal agent almost always at her side the odds of getting away with her plan completely scot free was a practically a fantasy.

Then on Friday of the following week, she had her opportunity, Adam and Jason being ordered to stay behind and keep an eye on the teenager.

"I need to check on how Sullivan is doing with the Hargrove case. I will be a cell phone call away if anything happens. Hear me Trieson?" she asked the girl as she typed furiously on her computer.

"Yeah, yeah. Call you if anything earth shattering goes down. I know the drill Agent Peters," Dina replied with a dismissive wave of her hand, not even bothering to turn around and face the senior agent.

Abigail sighed, shaking her head as she left the room.

Dina counted to ten in her head to make sure that Agent Peters had truly left.

Then she let loose.

She pulled up a minimized page from the night before and began to type away at her keyboard.

"Woah! How are you doing this?" Adam asked her, looking over her shoulder to see her process.

"A magician never reveals his secrets Adam," she told him, smiling as he groaned and went back to his station.

"Yes!" Dina muttered happily a few minutes later.

She continued typing, her penetration into the website getting deeper as she continued.

Then there it was. One of the most secure websites that Dina had ever seen; a Black Market.

Buying and selling was different here, it was a don't ask, don't tell kind of place, people exchanging goods amongst themselves but never seeing who was on the other side of the screen. Drop points for the item were the only things exchanged between the buyer and the seller, contact never being made; and that was how everyone liked it. How the system had worked for so long, no one really knew.

Dina had been able to crack the triple encryption placed on the site in a month when she had first discovered that there was such a thing as the internet black market. She had also found out that there was more than just one of them. Multiple markets were set up, some specializing in one kind of product, and some having everything from stolen celebrity items to national secrets. Everything was fair game. And everything had a price.

She continued to practice locating and hacking into the site that was never in the same place twice, until she had been able to do it in under a week. Soon she had gotten the time down to a single day, then half a day, five hours, two hours, and finally after two years of work, she had reached her goal; six minutes.

She was thinking fondly on the memory, when suddenly, a conversation box popped up on her screen, a message appearing before her very eyes.

 _"Whatcha need newbie?"_ the message asked.

Dina was caught off guard for only a moment before she replied with _, "What makes you think I'm a newbie?" _

_"I get notifications. Sides, you have a higher quality system I've never seen before. Real nice. Not something that you see every day on this side,"_

 _"You gonna keep chit-chatting, or help me out?"_ Dina typed back.

 _"Ooh! Feisty! I like that! Let me guess, blonde, blue eyes?"_

 _"A mile off dude,"_

He technically was half right, but she wasn't about to let him know that.

 _"Ok! Fine. Whatcha lookin for?"_

 _"How 'bout a name first,"_

 _"Oh sorry! Call me Timbers. Now you're turn beautiful,"_

 _"Ha! You wish!"_

Dina thought for a second, unsure if her usual name would be secure enough in this situation. She was starting to run short on time though. If she didn't give Timbers an answer soon, he would lose interest and she might lose her best shot at locating her real target. He might also think that she really was a newbie; and that was the _last_ thing that she wanted!

 _"Call me Sparrow,"_ she typed, hitting the send button before she had a chance to change her mind.

 _"Sparrow? Doesn't really strike fear into my heart, but ok. Sparrow it is,"_

 _"I use it because it's unassuming. No one thinks of a Sparrow as something that could be even potentially dangerous,"_

 _"Interesting. So, back to what I can do for you gorgeous?"_

 _"How do you even know if I'm a girl?"_

 _"I don't. I'm assuming you are,"_

 _"Oh give it a rest already T-man!"_ a new person posted, the style of writing different. Also, there would be no point for Timbers to contradict himself.

 _"Ah! Was wondering when you'd show up bird-brain,"_ Timbers taunted the newcomer. _"Wait, how'd you get into this conversation?"_

 _"You know me Timbers. Never pass up a challenge. Even if it is just seeing you miserably fail like normal,"_

 _"Of course you would hack into a private conversation. You need to get a life man,"_

 _"And you need to get yourself a girlfriend,"_ the newcomer countered.

 _"Dude! You can't just let her know I'm a guy!"_ Timbers words practically screamed on the screen.

 _"Sure, like she doesn't know that already,"_

 _"And how are you so certain that she actually is a she? Hmm?"_

 _"Sparrow. It's clearly a name that a girl would choose. Another hint was that when you called her 'gorgeous', she didn't contradict you. Only replied with, 'you wish'. She also responded to you with her name in five point two seconds. That's usually the time it takes for a girl to come up with a name they don't detest. A guy typically takes eight point six seconds to decide on a name; and that's fast!"_

 _"You're such a nerd!"_ Timbers told him.

 _"And you're such an amorous nuisance; but do I complain? Well, yes. On a regular basis in fact. I've actually been working on some great nicknames for you. Amorous nuisance is only the first of many. Or do you prefer deranged blandishment? My personal favorite is fruity philander because when you say it, it sounds like it's alliterated,"_

 _"Ooh! I like that one too!"_ Dina typed, finally rejoining the conversation.

 _"Ok I get it!"_ Timbers typed, the exasperation clearly portrayed in his words.

There was a moment of screen silence, no typing from any of the three conversation members.

 _"You have no idea what any of those things mean do you?"_ the third party typed finally.

 _"I think he's getting out a dictionary. Or at least a thesaurus,"_ Dina typed back.

 _"If he's doing it in an actual physical form, I won't be able to know,"_

 _"What's the problem? Can't hack a book?"_ Timbers teased.

 _"Hey! I can make it into any system out there, day or night,"_

 _"Sure you can, sure you can,"_ The sarcasm from Timbers was practically dripping from the words on the screen.

 _"Go stick your nose into someone's Facebook account timbers!"_

 _"Only if you do the same, Robin,"_ and then, Timbers was gone, vanished into cyberspace.

The word practically jumped off of the screen.

Robin.

This was him.

She'd found him.

Robin was a him.

He was here. Right in front of her.

Well, he could be technically anywhere in the world, but he was still here.

On the other side of this screen, was one of the greatest threats that the FBI had ever seen. Right in her own backyard, Robin stood.

She had discovered one of the most sought after places on the entire internet for any hacker, and she had found her subject in the process.

"Adam! I need a fix on a location! Now!" she ordered the young man, who frantically responded to her demand, shuffling between his stations to retrieve the tools needed.

"Jason, go get Agent Peters. Tell her we've made contact,"

"On it chief!" he said, running out of the room at a speed that almost rivaled that of Wally's.

 _"So what can I help you with Sparrow?"_ the message on the screen said.

Dina looked at the message, thinking fast with a reply.

 _"I need some info. Think you can supply me with the kind I want?"_

 _"Depends,"_

 _"On what?"_

"What kind of information you're looking for. I can get you almost any kind you want, but I need to know ahead of time what kind so I can contact the 'seller'," he informed her.

 _"I need,"_ but Dina's typing was interrupted by Adam's frantic speech.

"Dina! I started the trace, but I don't think it's working! I'm not sure what I did wrong! It's trying to get a definitive spot, but it keeps circling around North America! It won't narrow down from there,"

A notification flashed across Dina's screen, causing her to turn her attention back to her online conversation.

 _"It was a pleasure meeting you Sparrow. Goodbye,"_

"What? No!" Dina pleaded out loud, returning her attention to typing.

 _"I still don't have what I came for, "_ Dina typed, doing her best not to sound too frantic in her words.

 _"I think you have more than you realize. Congratulations on finding the Black Market. I look forward to speaking with you again, Sparrow. Your conversation is far more enjoyable than most of the cockroaches on here,"_

She knew there was no point to keep him talking. He wasn't going to. Knowing that she had lost the battle, Dina sighed, allowing herself to be defeated. This time.

 _"Thank you. It was nice to talk to someone like you for once. Someone with a brain in their head,"_

 _"You're welcome,"_

 _"You're welcome as well,"_ she replied.

She sighed, leaning back in her office chair as the communication between the two stopped, no typing from either end coming onto her screen.

A notification alert caused her to practically jump out of her seat. Her hand immediately went to her chest, her heart beating rapidly at the recent scare.

 _"Be careful who you trust,"_ the message said, black letters seeming to enlarge the longer that Dina stared at them.

Then, he was gone.

"Stop the trace Adam. He's gone,"

"Are you sure?" he asked, approaching her desk. "Maybe there's a way that his system is still in the main system. We could,"

"No Adam. He's gone. I can feel it,"

She erased every smidge of evidence that linked her to the site, eradicating the page completely from her computer and the system. The conversation box had long since disappeared once Robin had stopped communication, but his final words still rang in Dina's head.

 _"Be careful who you trust,"_

What did that mean?

But the bigger question was, who could she really trust now?

Before she could even think about the question, two figures burst into the room.

"Where? Where is Robin?" Agent Peters asked frantically.

"Gone," Dina said simply.

"What do you mean, 'gone'?"

"I mean, I lost Robin,"

"Well then get Robin back!" she ordered, striding towards the computer and clicking the mouse pad at an amazing speed.

"I can't. He's way too good at covering his tracks,"

"Well then why didn't you try harder to get a trace on him?"

"I did, but frankly, if I had tried any harder, he could have hacked into your system and exposed your entire operation in the process! Taking a risk when I'm the only one involved is one thing, but putting other peoples' lives in jeopardy is not something that I am will to do. I wasn't about to take a risk like that," she said, practically spitting fire.

"Wait. He?"

"Yes, 'he'," she replied, sarcasm drenching the words.

"How can you be certain that Robin is indeed a 'he'?" Abigail asked, putting her hands on her hips.

It reminded Dina of an irate mother whose child had just broken her favorite antique vase.

"Because 'he' flirted with me. Take a look,"

The teen pulled up the screenshots she had taken of the conversation that had ended only a minute ago, scrolling to the very first one so that the woman could see how it had all started.

"Who's this, 'Timbers'?" Agent Peters asked, leaning over the girl's shoulder to get a closer look.

"Apparently, he frequents the site. They obviously know each other well," the girl explained, pulling up another screenshot.

"Right there. That's when he started to flirt with me, letting me know that he was in fact a 'he' as you put it so articulately," Dina stated, pointing to the screen and the specific part of communication.

"That looks like simply witty banter to me," Abigail said skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"Trust me. It's not. I've seen this sort of thing before, and this is how the subtle hacker flirts,"

"What else did you find out?" Peters demanded, her voice icy.

"Not much. Whoever they are, they have one amazing system. I couldn't track it even though it would have only taken me about ten minutes to get a location fix, even while in the middle of holding my communication with him. I will give Robin this much; he is good,"

"You my dear, are supposed to be better. Or are you not as good as Oliver said you are?"

"No, Principal Queen is right. I'm the best that you're ever gonna find,"

"What makes you think I can't just replace you with a snap of my fingers?" Abigail said, snapping her fingers together to make a point.

"Two reasons. One," Dina held up a finger. "you told me you needed me. That I was your last hope. Two," She added a second finger to the first one. "I'd like to see you try and find someone who would work with the FBI and yet be able to get past this level of encryption coding. All of the hackers that can get as far as I have gotten your people, are underground. They're like spiders. They don't come out of hiding for anyone or anything unless it somehow benefits them greater than the other person,"

"Well what about Yizovski? He's at your level of expertise in this area. Maybe I'll just hire him in your place,"

"No can do Peters," Dina said, shaking her head.

"And why is that?"

"Because only a hacker can catch another hacker,"

"What?"

"Only a hacker can catch another hacker. Hackers know everyone in the computer underworld, and they are trusted much more than some outsider pretending to be one of them; and don't think they won't be able to tell the difference. Also, your computer expert over here, panicked at the first sign of trouble. Anyone on the other side of the web will know immediately when this guy is stressed out. It will show in his typing and he won't be able to keep his cool. No offence Adam," Dina said to the young man.

"None taken," Adam told her, smiling to let her know that what she said was really the truth.

"If you wanna catch Robin, I'm the only way your gonna do it. There's no way around it,"

The silence permeated the room, the two females in a standstill. Their stares were colder than ice and harder than steel. Dina knew she would be the one to come out on top though. Agent Abigail Peters had everything to lose if this "Robin" wasn't caught. The only thing they could take away from Dina was her tech; and even if they did that, she would always find a way around the system. A way that would allow her to keep hacking.

Dina saw a break in the woman's stance, a slight flinch in her eye. She was getting under this woman's skin; and she was enjoying every minute of it.

"Fine," Peters said eventually through gritted teeth. "You're still on this case,"

Jason and Adam smiled at the teenager, pleased that she had been given a second chance.

"But mark my words Trieson," Peters said, pausing at the door. "Undermine me in any way, don't do everything you can to catch this hacker, or go behind my back, and you will be off this case quicker than you can say molasses. Understood?"

"Understood Ma'am," Dina replied stoically.

"Good. Now back to work you three," she ordered the trio.

Dina breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the clicking of the woman's heels fade away into the distance.

"You did it Dina! For a second there, I thought you were toast!" Adam told her, wiping the sweat away that had been forming on his brow.

"Honestly, I knew that she wouldn't give me the boot," the girl admitted.

"Why not?" Jason asked, completely confused by the teenager's confidence.

"Like I said to her, she needs me. This plan isn't going to succeed without me; and she knows it. That's why she let me stay,"

"Well I for one am thrilled to pieces that she let you stay! I would have been mortified to be forced into your position!" Adam told her.

Dina laughed.

"Let me know if the FBI doesn't work out for you Adam. I'd gladly give you a job when I start my tech business,"

"You mean it?" he asked excitedly.

"Of course,"

He thanked her like crazy, giving her a hug before he returned to his station upon Jason's order.

Dina smiled before she looked back to her monitor, bringing up the one screenshot that she hadn't shown Agent Peters; one she never would despite the warnings.

" _Be careful who you trust_ ,"


	6. Undercover

"So how's the internship going Dina?" Artemis asked her friend as they stood in line for lunch.

The black-haired teen hadn't heard a single word that the blonde had said, thinking about the predicament that she was currently in. She had been able to make contact once with her target identifying himself as "Robin", but other than that, she had next to nothing to show for her last four weeks of hard work. It was bugging her to death how he alluded her so, keeping just out of her reach day after day.

Artemis could clearly tell that Dina was frustrated with something, although she wasn't quite sure what.

"Hello! Earth to Dina!" Artemis said, waving her had in front of the fifteen-year-old's face.

"Huh? What?" Dina asked, noticing that the blonde beside her was trying to get her attention.

"You've been spacing out all day. What's up with you?" Artemis asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Nothing important. Just worried about getting into the lab today. You know how they have that internet chess tournament today," Dina explained. "So, what were you saying?" she asked, changing the subject as she grabbed a brown plastic tray from the pile.

"I was asking about the internship,"

Dina would never admit it, but the FBI actually came up with a decent explanation as to why she was gone so often from school. Honestly, it was a rather genius move on their part. Once Dina left the school grounds, she belonged to the government, something that no teenager should be subjected to. But just like everything else in her life, Dina didn't mind being different from everyone else.

"What about it?" Dina asked, genuinely curious as to why her blonde friend was inquiring.

"I wanted to know how it's going,"

"Oh. Fine I guess," Dina shrugged, scooping some mandarin oranges into one of the compartments of her plate.

"Fine? That's it?" Artemis questioned her friend, avoiding the mashed potatoes, knowing that there had to be something else mixed in them aside from simply peas.

"It's been, well, you know,"

"No, I don't know! I've never been a part of an internship. Remember?"

"Yeah. It's really not all that exciting. I just get a piece of paper with directions on it and then I have to follow them. That's pretty much it," Dina explained, putting her tray forward so that the lunch lady could put a scoop of grey goo on her plate.

"Thank you Mrs. Mahovey," she told the woman, smiling politely.

Mrs. Mahovey simply sneered back, a grunt escaping her oddly twisted lips.

"How can you be so nice to her all the time? She gives me the creeps!" Artemis said, a shiver involuntarily making its way down her spine as she caught up to her best friend.

"I think she isn't used to smiling. That's all," Dina shrugged, pulling out a chair at one of the empty tables and sitting down.

Artemis followed her example, sitting as far away from the lunch lady as she could while still sitting next to her friend.

"Oh come on Artemis! She's not that scary!" Dina reprimanded her as she took a bite of her green beans.

"I just feel safer the further away I am," Artemis explained under her breath.

Dina sighed, stirring her oranges around.

"Oooh! Oranges today!" someone said suddenly breaking into the conversation that the two girls had comfortably settled into.

"Wally," the girls moaned in synch.

"You didn't wait for me!" Wally wined, jutting out his bottom lip in a ridiculous looking pout.

"Very astute observation Einstein," Artemis said dryly.

"You usually take a long time with track practice, so we decided we would just go ahead. We knew you wouldn't mind as soon as we explained," Dina told the redhead, whose expression quickly changed.

"Well in that case, I will be right back ladies!" he excused himself, striding up to the shorter lunch line.

"How do you do that?" Artemis asked, dumbfounded.

"Do what?" Dina asked, looking at her friend.

"Diffuse a situation like that so easily? It's like, you just snap your fingers and 'poof'! The Wallman is back to his normal, annoying self,"

"I don't know. I guess I just have a knack for problem solving," was the only explanation that she could provide.

Before Artemis could reply, Wally had returned, taking the seat on the other side of Dina. He immediately began to dig into the grey pile of goop on his plate.

"Ugh! How can you eat that?" Artemis asked, gagging at the sight of the redheaded boy gobbling down the unnaturally colored substance.

"I do believe that stuff is actually hazardous to your health Wally," Dina said matter-a-factly as she too watched her friend down an astonishing amount of the icky glop.

"Ok, but do either of you have a metabolism that needs almost constant replenishing?" Wally argued, putting down his fork for a second in order to hear his friends' answers.

He pulled the metabolism argument on them again, both girls sighing in defeat. They knew there was no point in trying to reason with him now. Especially since that awful thing people actually honored with the term "food" was already inside him.

"Didn't think so," Wally said when he got no reply from them.

The girls took their plates to the trash, after they had scooped their goop onto Wally's plate first of course, and began the trek to their P.E. class.

"I hate P.E," Artemis muttered. "I wish we went to school in Canada. Then we could have archery in P.E!"

The idea of archery scared Dina to be honest, but she loved seeing her friend get so excited about a fantasy such as her favorite sport being a requirement in gym.

"You would also have to do fencing and curling though,"

"Don't talk about that!" Wally wined, catching up to his two friends.

"Why not?" Artemis asked.

"I don't wanna hear about how we don't get to have fencing!"

"You would want to take fencing?" Artemis asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I've always wanted to learn sword fighting, and fencing is about the closest thing that you can actually learn nowadays," he told her, his head hung low and his facial expression settled into a firm scowl.

"I prefer curling myself. Although crossing blades does sound like it would be pretty fun," Dina said.

Wally groaned as they walked through the doors of the gym, catching the attention of all the students inside.

"West! Trieson! Crock! Change!" Coach Curry ordered the three, who quickly went to the locker rooms. Wally was the first of the three to exit, shortly followed by Dina with Artemis coming out last.

Dina had put all of her hair up into a ponytail so that it wouldn't get in her face. After all, one cannot very well play floor hockey with hair in their face.

The trio each grabbed a stick from the sidelines and joined the rest of the high schoolers. Several more students poured in through the doors of the gym, Coach Curry telling each one of them to go change and to "Be quick about it!".

Eventually, all the students that had P.E. at this hour were gathered together, all changed into their gym clothes and lined up again the far wall of the gym.

"Alright, let's see. This week we have," Coach curry paused, looking at his clipboard, a calendar staring back at him with the students scheduled to be captains of the two teams written down on each day. Coach Arthur Curry was almost as organized as Principal Queen when it came to his P.E. class. And that was saying something.

"Harris, Heverson. You two are up for captains," he said, bringing the papers that he had pulled up to look at the schedule, back down.

"Heverson, you go first. You're older," the coach said.

The brunette guy nodded stepping forward and turning around to see who he had to choose from.

"I'll take, Marcus," he said, pointing to his best friend who did a fist pump at being picked first.

"Harris. Your turn," Coach Curry told the girl with the fakely dyed blonde hair.

"Whatever," she muttered, taking her spot next to the taller boy that was now labeled as her enemy.

"I take, Abbie," she said, pointing to her green-haired best friend.

"Brian," Heverson, whose first name was David, said.

"Maddy," Harris, better known as Erica, picked, examining her nails.

It wasn't until they were evenly at four people each that any of the trio had been chosen, Wally being picked by David.

Artemis was chosen next, the seventh person picked to be on Erica's team.

Dina was the second to last chosen, and only picked because David listened to Wally when he told him to pick the black-haired girl.

 _"_ _Always last,"_ Dina thought as she made her way over to her team.

It was so unfair! She was literally one of the best hockey players in the entire school, and yet she was still picked last every time that they played the game.

"Alright, everyone knows the rules. Every single person on your team needs to play. And that doesn't mean for two minutes Heverson," Coach Curry told the brunette, squinting at him as he remembered the last time the boy had been a team leader.

David nodded.

Coach Curry pulled a ball from his pocket, bouncing it on the floor twice as he made his way to the middle of the gym floor. All the team members were on the court, opposite ends of the floor filled with teenagers.

Coach Curry blew his whistle and then dropped the ball, the two students standing beside him immediately trying to get possession of the ball. Erica's team surprisingly was able to maneuver the ball away from Marcus who was the starting player.

However, the possession of the ball was quickly turned over to David's team when it was stolen by one of David's team members.

Dina saw the move that Maddy was about to make before she actually performed it. Swiftly and silently, Dina weaved her way between the other players, snatching the ball in mid pass from Marcus to Greg. She was able to make her way to other side of the floor, each one of her movements a step of the other players. The goalie didn't even expect the shot from Dina, as she scored in the upper left-hand corner of the goal.

"Woo hoo!" Dina celebrated, raising her stick above her head.

She seemed to be the only one who even realized what had happened.

"What was that?" David asked, breaking the silence that filled the gym.

"Uh, that's what we call a 'goal'," Dina told him, not backing down as he strode toward her.

"This is a team sport! And from what I could tell, none of that seemed to be a team effort," David said, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

"I saw an opening and I took it. I was using my instincts,"

"Instincts don't win games. Teamwork does," David told her, looking down at her with rage in his eyes.

"Well, if you look at the scoreboard you'll see that teamwork isn't what got you up there chief," she told him.

David was about to lay into her, when Coach Curry approached them.

"David go cool off,"

"But Coach!"

"No buts! Go cool off,"

David muttered something inaudible as he went to get a drink of water.

"I have never seen anything like that. You did an amazing job, and I hate to have to do this, but I have to pull you off the team,"

"What! But I didn't do anything wrong!" Dina defended herself.

"Oh I know. You followed your instincts. I'm not forcing you to leave the team because I want you to. I got a call from your internship program. They need you to come in early today. And since you are already ahead in all of your classes, I called the principal to let him know that you would be leaving earlier today. He approved, so you're free to go,"

"Oh," Dina replied, depressed that she would have to miss out on her favorite activity that they did in P.E.

"It's fine Dina. We can pick up at the rink later if you'd like,"

Dina smiled up at the blonde coach.

"I'd like that a lot,"

"What was so important that you would have to pull me away from _floor hockey_?" Dina demanded, the door of Abigail's office slamming open.

"You were needed. I'm sorry if in interfered with your social life," the agent replied dryly, no ounce of sympathy in her words.

"If you haven't noticed, I don't _have_ a social life,"

"Exactly. So there's no reason to be upset," Abigail spat, standing from her seat to look down at the girl. People seemed to be doing that a lot today.

However, they seemed to also forget that this tactic didn't intimidate her. Few things did.

Dina followed Abigail silently as she left the room, leading her towards her station that she had been occupying for the past couple months.

"I know how to get to my station," she muttered, dropping into her seat and plopping her bag on the floor.

"What you may not know Ms. Trieson, is that we were able to locate your hacker,"

"You didn't locate him. He let you find him," she told the woman.

"What do you mean that he let us find him?"

"And besides, just because someone claims that he's the 'Robin' doesn't mean he actually is. In fact," Dina said, typing on the computer keyboard furiously.

"Just as I thought. Ned,"

"Ned?" Agent Peters asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not Exceptionally Dapper. In other words, he's pretty lame. He's a very low-level hacker. Nothing to be concerned about,"

"And you're sure it's him,"

"Of course. He's being sloppy telling you he's someone that he's not. Ned does that. It's his 'calling card' you could say,"

Dina began to hack into a triple encrypted site, trying to get her mind off of the agent that was staring over her shoulder.

Dina looked down at her watch, smiling at her increased speed.

"You need a better system," Dina said offhandedly as she broke into an even more secured portion of the website.

She soon got bored, and changed to a separate platform, going off the radar to a completely different site compared to what she had gone to before.

"What is this?" Agent Peters asked, leaning forward to get a better view.

"This, Agent Peters, is a conversation site. For hackers,"

"Hackers? Is our guy here?" she asked, her interest suddenly piqued.

"I won't know until I start a conversation," Dina said absentmindedly as she typed.

"Well then start one!" she ordered.

"Relax chief. She's doing what she can," Jason said, looking up from his magazine for the first time since Dina had arrived.

"Don't even star with me! She has been absolutely useless the past few weeks! She hasn't been able to get one single lock on our target since,"

"I hate to interrupt Agent Peters," Dina said, not minding in the least that she was breaking her superior's train of thought.

"However, I do believe I have a hit,"

Dina immediately began typing into a conversation box that suddenly appeared.

 _"_ _How are you doing Sparrow?"_ it said.

Dina's heartbeat sped up, her palms started to sweat, and her breath caught in her throat.

Could it be?

She dared to believe that it was.

She looked at the signature, her heart skipping a beat upon seeing the single word that had been typed.

 _"_ _Are."_

 _"_ _Robin,"_ Dina whispered under her breath.


	7. Assistance

"Are?" Abigail asked, completely confused by the word. "Why in the world would he type the word 'are' all by itself?"

"Because it's a signature," Dina replied without taking her eyes off the computer screen.

"A signature?"

"Yes. It's his way of letting me know that it's him without tipping anyone else off. Well, he could tip someone else off, but few people look at things at more than face value. The really well-versed hackers can identify each other by giving clues to each other as to who their online identity is," the teenager explained, typing in a response.

 _"_ _How do you know it's me?"_

"What Kind of signature is the word are?" Abigail asked, interrupting the girl's conversation.

"Actually, a pretty good one. See, you look at it and that's all you do,"

"Is there a problem with that?" she asked, offended by what the teenager had implied.

"Actually, yes. When you're a hacker. You need to not only _look_ at the word, but _hear_ the word as well,"

"Hear it?"

"Yes. See, all you see is the word are. I see the _word_ are, and hear the _letter_ 'r', which is,"

"What the word Robin starts with," Abigail finished, finally understanding what the teenager was getting at.

"Exactly. He told me who he was without having to do anything over the top. It's a way of speaking that all hackers learn over time,"

Dina looked back to the screen, putting her game face back on when she saw a new message had been sent.

 _"_ _You didn't deny that it was you. Besides, your new to the system. I recognize every other signature in here… except for yours,"_ he typed in reply.

"Ask him who he really is!" Abigail said, leaning forward even closer to the screen than she was before.

"Agent Peters, how dumb do you think he is? He's not going to tell us right out of the box his secret identity! That is the simple most pathetic thing that we could ask him! You might as well say, 'I'm a desperate government agent! Please! Erase all existence of yourself on the internet so we can never find you again!'"

Abigail glared daggers at the teenager, but Dina stood firmly behind what she had said.

"She's right ma'am," Adam spoke up in defense of his comrade.

"And how's that, Yizovski?" Ms. Peters asked.

"If we ask him who he is now, then we may lose track of him not only online, but in the real world as well. Once he deletes himself from the system, he can basically delete himself from the real world,"

"Meaning…"

"Meaning, he will make himself disappear completely from everywhere. It will be like he never existed; and we will have lost all chance of finding him at all," Adam explained.

Dina continued to type as Adam explained everything to Agent Peters.

 _"_ _So, what you're saying is that I'm not unique enough for you to remember? Ouch!"_

 _"_ _Not at all. I just haven't memorized you yet,"_

The conversation box stood still for a moment, Dina fearing that she may have taken too long to reply with all of the distracting questions pointed in her direction by the lead agent, and he was now off in another part of cyberspace again.

 _"_ _So, what do you need help with this time?"_

Dina breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the conversation continued.

 _"_ _Not much. I need access into a certain account. Think you could get me in?"_

 _"_ _Depends. Which account?"_

 _"_ _Are you saying that there might be a place on the internet that you can't access? I'm shocked!"_

 _"_ _I'm not saying that at all. There has never been any place I haven't been able to get into, despite the security,"_

 _"_ _So you can get me in?"_

 _"_ _Account?"_

 _"_ _MR. Seventy-two,"_

 _"_ _Ah, good old MR. Seventy-two! You certainly have a gift for making 'not much' sound like it really is not much! Haven't broken into that one,"_

There was a small pause before the most recent answer from Robin was followed by a short, one word answer.

 _"_ _Yet,"_

Dina couldn't help but smile, and decided she wanted to send him a little smile as well, but before she could, another message appeared from the hacker on the other end.

 _"_ _Meet me there tonight at 1700 sharp. I assume you know how to get that far. After all, not everyone can make it through triple encryption. Don't be late,"_ he ordered.

 _"_ _1700\. Got it. See you then,"_

The conversation box disappeared with the final confirmation from Dina.

"1700! That's three hours from now!" Ms. Peters griped, her arms folded across her chest.

"It was his deal. I wasn't about to change the time and make it seem like I'm desperate. We're lucky he's even doing it tonight and not making me wait a whole week; or longer!" Dina told the woman, beginning to get tired of the constant berating she had received from her.

"Again, she's right Agent Peters," Adam told the woman, coming to Dina's defense for the second time that day.

"Fine. But I will not be responsible for anything that goes wrong. You're going to have to find this guy off the clock, understood?" Abigail told the teenager, looking her dead in the eyes.

"One hundred percent so," Dina confirmed.

Agent Peters left the room, discreetly signaling to Jason that she wanted to see him in a moment. A minute later, Jason put down his magazine and claimed that he needed to get some coffee.

"What is it?" he asked as soon as he entered the woman's office.

"I want you to keep an eye on our expert tonight when she 'meets' with this hacker tonight. I don't completely trust her enough to communicate with him alone," she said, filling her briefcase with folders and papers.

"Why not? She's proven herself hasn't she?" Jason asked.

"She's proved that she's smart. She's proved that she's observant. That can be dangerous and I'm not willing to take any chances. She could steal anything in our database without so much effort as it takes to twitch your eyebrow. We could blink, and like that," she snapped her fingers to make a point. "Our most secure items in the hands of a foreign evil,"

"I understand. I'll make sure she does only what she has to,"

"Good,"

And with that, the woman slammed her briefcase shut and left her office, Jason tailing leisurely behind her.

He went to the coffee station, pouring himself a mug full of the hot liquid. He looked at the clock on the wall, the second hand ticking ominously.

2:12.

"I'm gonna need a lot more coffee," Jason muttered, heading to the back room for a bigger mug.

"How's it going in here?" he asked when he returned to Dina and Adam, leaning against the doorframe while slowly sipping from his new, larger mug.

"Not too bad. But I can't figure out number twenty-one," Dina said, not looking up from the paper she was currently pouring over.

"Are you…" Jason approached the fifteen-year-old and peered over her shoulder.

"Doing homework?"

"English to be specific. It's never really been my best subject. Artemis is more into this sort of thing,"

"Who's Artemis?" Jason asked, making a motion with his hand that told Dina he wanted to see her paper.

"Here," she said, handing him what he wanted. "She's my best friend, or one of them anyway. I've already told you about Wally,"

"Ahh! Of course. How could I forget about the speedster?" he joked, looking over the teenager's homework.

"Do you not know how to diagram a sentence?" Jason asked.

"I do, but that's a really complex sentence. It doesn't really make sense to me," she explained, shrugging her shoulders.

"You can hack into a triple encrypted system in as much time as it takes me to microwave a hot pocket, and yet a simple diagraming exercise stumps you?" Jason shook his head, smiling. "You are one puzzling and incredibly ironic girl, you know that?"

"I've been told I'm weird,"

"I didn't say weird. I said that you are puzzling, meaning that you are intruiging more than anything honestly," he said.

"Well that's not what everyone at school says about me," she muttered, pulling out some more homework from her backpack.

"Wait, let me get this straight," Jason began, putting down the girl's English homework so that he could look at her. "Do you get teased?"

"Why do you think my dad taught me Karate?" she asked, writing down the answer to a question on her science homework.

"Do other students hit you?" he asked, his concern growing.

Dina didn't answer.

"Dina. Has anyone ever hurt you physically?" he asked her, beginning to stand from his chair.

"No; but I have had to defend my friend from the captain of the football team. He tried to pick a fight once with Wally. Unfortunately, Wally wasn't fast enough to get away from him, and he got hurt rather badly because of it,"

"What did you do?" Adam asked, intruiged.

"I protected Wally. I told him to put Wally down and no one would get hurt. He didn't listen, so I acted,"

"And?" Jason pressed.

"Let's just say that he avoided all three of us like we had the plague. Who knew a quarterback's bones could be so weak?"

"You broke his bones?" Jason asked, stunned.

"I only broke his leg. I tend to get rather defensive of my friends. Specifically when they didn't do anything wrong. I did get a pretty good tongue lashing from the football coach though.

"When was this?"

"Back in fifth grade. I don't like to talk about it though. It's a part of my past that I'm not too proud of,"

Her mind flashed back to that dreaded day, the day she was moved to another home due to her behavior. She had cried herself to sleep for almost three months after that, unable to think that the blame was on anyone's shoulders other than her own.

Dina shook her head to get the memory out of her head, glad to be back to the present.

"So, you figure out number twenty-one yet Brainiac?" she asked Jason, changing the subject.

"Dina,"

"Please Jason. I don't want to talk about it anymore. I already told you that it's something I'm not too proud of,"

"Alright. I won't press the issue,"

She thanked him, smiling a thin smile at him.

Over the next three hours, the three agents of the FBI laughed about stories each other told, enjoyed listening, and in Jason's case, attempting to sing along to the radio. It was a welcome change to actually be able to have fun while at work. With Jason's help, Dina was able to complete all of her English homework as well as finish her science and begin her World History.

"And when was Pearl Harbor attacked?" Jason asked from the questions in Dina's history book.

"That's an easy one! December 7, 1941," she answered proudly, spinning in her office chair.

"Correct,"

"Of course it is! I learned that back in seventh grade," she told him, smirking.

"Alright smarty pants! What was the,"

"Sorry to interrupt this lovely banter, but it's quarter to the target time Dina,"

"Thanks Adam. Guess we will just have to pick this quizzing later on," she said, smiling wryly at Jason.

It was always amazing to watch the teenager work, her fingers practically caressing the keys to get her where she needed to go in cyberspace. Every little thing she did on the computer got her further and further into the database, getting her one step closer to her final destination. She was able to get to the correct meeting place, hacking into the furthest point of the site. She took her hands off the keyboard and stole a glance at the digital clock in the top right hand corner of the giant monitor she was in front of.

"Made it in, and with two minutes to spare!" she said proudly, folding her arms behind her head.

A beep sounding, alerting Dina to the fact that someone had just joined her online. Sure enough, there was a conversation box on her screen, a new message blinking for her.

 _"_ _Good to see you made it,"_ he said.

 _"_ _Wouldn't miss it,"_

 _"_ _Glad to hear I'm worth breaking into a foreign weapons site for,"_

 _"_ _Don't flatter yourself. I'm only here for the information,"_ she told him.

 _"_ _Ouch! You hit me right in the ego!"_

 _"_ _Does that mean I made it deflate some?"_ she asked, the snarkiness clearly portrayed in the typed words.

 _"_ _Nah, just bruised it a little; but don't worry. I heal rather quickly,"_

 _"_ _Good to know. Now, are we gonna get down to business, or do you always need a significant amount of time to flirt with your customers first?"_

 _"_ _No. Down to business. MR. Seventy-two. Follow my lead Sparrow,"_ he told her.

She did exactly what he did, breaking even further into the system, making sure that each move she made was the very same that Robin did.

"Hey Dina, I've been meaning to ask, what's MR. Seventy-two?" Adam asked, monitoring Dina's every move from his own computer.

"It's just a program,"

"What _kind_ of program?" Jason asked, now worried that the girl was going somewhere she shouldn't be.

"Nothing to really worry yourself about," she said, trying to avoid the subject.

" _Dina_ ," Jason said sternly, his hands on his hips reminding the teenager of an angered parent.

"Fine. MR. Seventy-two isn't its official name. It's a code,"

"Another code? How many do you hackers have?"

"When you're a hacker, life is nothing but one big code, everything means something else, so you have to be exceptionally cautious,"

"So what kind of code is MR. Seventy-two?"

"It's a fake name. The seventy-two means that it's the seventy-second attempt at the exact same program, just tweaked a little more than the prior seventy-one programs.

"And the rest?"

"The 'R' stands for Russian,"

"What! You hacked into a _Russian_ program? You not only hacked into foreign cyberspace, but into of all places, Russia?!" Adam choked, his words coming out in a wheeze.

"What's the 'M' stand for Dina?" Jason asked, turning away from the hyperventilating Adam.

Dina didn't reply, instead, looking anywhere that wasn't Jason.

"Dina, I asked you what the 'M' stood for. Tell me. Now," he commanded.

The teenager turned to look at the blonde man, her blue eyes pleading, "Please don't make me tell you,"

Jason shook head both to clear his mind and answer the unasked question.

"Tell me,"

"It-it stands for," Dina paused, swallowing before she continued. "Missile. The 'M' stands for missile,"

Jason's eyes grew wide, his jaw turning slack at the astonishment of the situation. Here, a fifteen-year-old had hacked all the way into what was possibly one of the world's most secure locations in all of cyberspace. The severity of the situation sunk into his brain, a feeling of dread encompassing him.

Jason said the first thing that came into his mind.

"My God,"

The lovely banter line is from an animated Disney movie. I know which one, but I want to see if YOU know which one it is! Also, I had to rewrite sections of this chapter several times, so let me know if something doesn't make sense. I loved writing this chapter! I hope you are all enjoying reading this fanfiction as much as I enjoy writing it for you!

Enjoy!

WOBE


	8. Shocking

First came shock, complete and utter shock at what the teenager in the room had just done.

Then came panic, the words the same teenager had said crashing down on him like a tidal wave.

"How," Jason muttered under his breath, running his hands nervously through his blonde hair.

"It's actually a lot easier than you might think," Dina said in a more nonchalant manner than would have been expected.

"That's not the _point_!" Jason snapped, his green eyes laced with fury.

Dina slinked back into her office chair, fear flashing in her facial features at the sight of the taller man towering over her with clenched fists and anger written over every inch of his being.

"You can't just, hack into the Russian government! Not only is that completely illegal, but it's just," Jason paused, taking in a deep breath and trying to calm his nerves that were slowly being frayed away from the stress. Again, his hands found his hair, his fingers combing through the blonde strands in an attempt to keep himself from losing it completely.

He sank into a plush armchair against the wall, his face in his hands as he contemplated the situation he had been so forcibly thrust into.

The silence that began to settle into the room was far from a comfortable one.

Adam cleared his throat, causing both of the other occupants to look at him.

"Jason, instead of seeing this as a major problem, perhaps we should see this as a blessing in disguise,"

"And how exactly, is this," Jason stood, gesturing to the teenager and her computer. "A blessing in disguise Adam?"

"Before, we weren't exactly sure of the full extent of Dina's skills, but now we are aware of just how much she can accomplish with that laptop of hers. Something that could be quite useful in the future," the young man stated confidently.

"Also, this has gotten us, or rather 'Sparrow', in closer contact with our target. No one could even locate him before now, and here he is helping Dina hack into one of the most secure sites in the entire world. If I'm not mistaken, I would consider that to be progress,"

Jason sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Again, the silence settled into the room, Dina's heart beating faster than normal as she awaited the blonde man's response.

"Fine. Do what you must. But don't, and I mean _don't_ , do anything more than you have to. I will not take any blame for any of this if this thing goes south. This will all be on your shoulders," Jason ordered her, his expression hard.

Dina nodded, turning back to her computer with a determination in her actions and on her face.

"I need some coffee," Jason muttered, leaving the room with his empty coffee mug and slammed the door behind him.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Dina asked, staring at the door that Jason had just left through.

"He'll be fine as long as you don't cause too much trouble. You need to realize that according to Agent Peters, the only thing that Mayhem is obligated to do is keep on eye on you and report all of your findings to her. He doesn't have to look out for you, but he does. He looks out for everyone that comes in her under his authority. It's just his nature," Adam explained, shrugging his shoulders as if that would add to the clarification of the situation.

"So, he feels like I betrayed him by not telling him ahead of time what I was doing,"

She understood now. He wanted to protect her and he couldn't properly do that if he was left in the dark about anything. Especially something as earthshattering as _this_.

"Exactly. He knows the importance of secrecy more than anyone, but he also wants people to trust him. That's why he is always trying to look out for his subordinates, even when he doesn't have to. It's what makes Jason who he is,"

"I understand. He feels like he needs to protect everyone,"

"Why else do you think a forensic analyst learned how to use handguns?"

"Wait. He learned how to use handguns after the military? Why?"

"Like I said. He feels he needs to protect people. He felt that he could do that better with a gun at his side,"

"But what about,"

"Dina, I think you have a hacker to entertain," Adam interrupted her, gesturing with his chin towards her computer.

"Oh. Right," she said, turning back to the new message flashing on her screen.

 _"You still alive?"_

 _"Of course. The firewall was a little more advanced than I thought it was going to be,"_

 _"Oh? Too much for you to handle?"_

 _"Not on your life you hack,"_

 _"Hack? Seriously, is that the best comeback you got? Not very asterous,"_

Dina stared at the word, her hands frozen on the keyboard. Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she looked at the odd expression, something that in all her years of being a hacker she had never once come across.

 _"Hello? Still kicking over there?"_

Dina shook her head, forcing herself to worry about the odd term later and focus on the task at hand. Which meant not allowing her contact with Robin to go dead on her end by keeping him informed.

 _"Sorry. Just never heard the term asterous before,"_

Her eyes grew wide when she realized what she had just said, slapping her hands over her mouth as if it had been the offensive party in the conversation that had caused her to release the information.

 _"Stupid, stupid, stupid!"_ she screamed in her head, her eyes still glued to the screen in absolute terror at what she had just revealed.

 _"How could I be so stupid! What if it's a hacker term and you just gave yourself away completely by saying that!"_ she thought, groaning as she covered her eyes with her hands.

Her self-loathing was cut short when Adam cleared his throat, getting the teenager's attention.

She raised her eyes towards the young man who was pointing at her computer.

She turned her gaze back towards her screen concerned and curious as to what could have possibly gotten Adam's attention.

 _"Is that all? I was worried it might be another one of those ridiculous firewalls. I always say that if someone's gonna put up so many precautions, then they should put up ones that I can't get through. Either that, or don't put any firewalls up at all,"_

 _"Hold it. What's the whole thing with asterous?_ " Dina typed, utterly confused by Robin's reaction.

 _"It's just one of those words I came up with. You know how wonky our English language is. You how the words disability and ability or dislike and like are opposites?"_

 _"Yeah,"_

 _"Well then shouldn't the opposite meaning of the word disaster be aster? You know, instead of things going wrong they go right,"_

 _"You are one perceptive person Robin,"_

 _"Thanks. I try to be. You in all the way yet?"_

Dina waited for a minute before she smiled at her computer screen.

"You beautiful machine!" she exclaimed, kissing the top of her screen.

 _"I'm in,"_ she typed to Robin.

 _"Good. Now type in the words BLUE TUNA into the password bar. All uppercase by the way,"_

She did as he said, making sure that all the letters were uppercase and that there was a space. She didn't want to leave any room for error.

As soon as she hit the enter button, she couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips.

 _"Oops! Looks like my time's up! Good bye Sparrow,"_

 _"What!? Wait! What am I supposed to do with this?"_ Dina typed furiously in reply to his sudden farewell.

 _"Tie su,"_

Those were the last words that Dina saw before the conversation bow suddenly disappeared from her computer, never to be recovered from the deep recesses of cyberspace.

"I can't believe he just left me like that!" she muttered, slumping into her chair in exasperation and shock.

"Dina? What is it?" Adam asked, rising from his seat with alarm.

"Get Jason," she whispered.

"What?" he asked, unable to hear what she had said.

"Get Jason! Get him now!" she ordered, sitting up and whirling around in her chair to face him.

Adam immediately ran from the room, the terror in Dina's bright blue eyes enough to get him out the door without stumbling.

* * *

He breathed a sigh of relief, slumping back into his leather office chair.

The light of the screen irradiated the dark room, shadows spreading into the farthest corners slightly brighter from the presence of the bluish screen.

His jet black hair highlighted with streaks emblazoned from the computer in front of him framed his fair face as his eyes were lit up by more than just the electronic device.

The smirk that spread across his face wasn't one of pride or deception, but rather one of liberation, an expression that told a story in and of itself if you took the time to watch and therefore, listen.

"I take it your first test was a success," a voice said from the shadows, more so stating a fact than asking a question.

He nodded, not bothering to turn around, knowing that the iridescence from the computer would allow the shadowy figure to see his answer.

"Of course. Did you really doubt me that much?" he asked playfully, still facing his technology.

"It's not you that I distrust,"

"I know,"

The silence that settled between the two of them was palpable, but not uncomfortable for either of them unlike how many people would be feeling at such a moment.

"I trust your decision. I told you that from the beginning," the shadow spoke.

"Yes, I am well aware of that,"

The smirk slowly started to fade into a more serious expression.

"But you knew that didn't you?" he asked the shadow, his back still turned as he folded his hands in his lap.

"Of course I did. And you knew that I knew,"

"Naturally,"

The silence returned for a second time, but they could still feel each other's presence in the room, neither of them wanting to make the first move.

"Did you know that I'm proud of you. Because I am," the shadow told him.

Anyone not trained in the observance of body language wouldn't have noticed the slight rise in his shoulders or minimal lift of his chin, indicating that he was in fact surprised by what he had just heard.

He turned his attention to the shadows, his eyes adjusting slightly from the brightness of his screen to the dim corner. He could make out the outline of a figure standing in the darkness, his slight smile lit up by more than just the technology in the room.

"I fear the real test will begin sooner than either of us want," the shadow stated sternly, his smile fading away in an instant, as if it had never existed in the first place.

He sighed, his eyes drawn back to his computer's screen.

"I know. My work is far from over,"

"Yes, but you will be of no use at only a portion of your strength,"

"In other words, go to sleep,"

"Preferably before one," the shadow stated matter-of-factly.

"That early?"

"We may be people of the night, but the rest of the world isn't. You know this; and I know you do,"

"You seem to know everything,"

"It's my job to know everything,"

"I know,"

A slight scoff was heard from the darkened corner.

"Finally deciding to follow in my footsteps are you?"

"Who said I wasn't following from the beginning?" he asked, smirking as he began to type on his keyboard again.

"Now there's something I didn't know,"

"It's about time you were stumped!"

"Remember. Before one,"

"I know,"

"I know you do,"

He turned his gaze towards the now open door of the room, the hallway beyond suddenly bathed in more light than it had been since the sun had set. The presence of anyone else in the room had left, causing a shiver to make its way down his spine at the sudden feeling of loneliness.

"Love you too,"

The steady rhythm of typing began to pick up again, followed by the incessant clicking of a mouse as screen changed rapidly, were minimized at top-notch speed, or were closed even faster.

A minute later, the sudden symphony being played by skilled fingers was put on hold, every sound in the room ceasing from continuing any further.

The one word was uttered like a prayer, precious cargo carried by the wind to the ears of whoever would take the time to listen and observe the significance of it.

"Dad,"

* * *

I haven't updated in absolutely FOREVER! So here is a new chapter of heart a-hack as a late present to myself because I have officially been on Fanfiction for over a year! I am so excited by all the positive feedback that I have received on all my stories and all of the incredible followers, favorites, and just plain kindness that I have received from all of my readers! I hope you continue to enjoy my stories, and continue to read them with vigor! Enjoy everything that I write, cause it's all for you guys!

You are AWESOME SAUCE!

Love, WOBE


	9. Alarm

"What? What is it?" Jason asked, running into the room like a mad-man, his green eyes filled with concern and urgency. He was quickly followed by a frazzled Adam as he slid across the floor and into the door frame.

"You might want to see this," Dina told him, clicking with her mouse.

"Dina, don't tell me that I'm seeing what I'm seeing,"

"I'm afraid you are," Dina said.

"What is it?" Adam asked, trying his best to stand from the floor due to his recent crash landing.

"It's a payoff,"

"A what!?" Adam exclaimed, joining Jason in peering over the girl's shoulder.

"There are three things that prove this is a payoff. See this group of x's," Dina explained, pointing to the left side of the screen with her mouse, "it's supposed to symbolize that a certain amount of money was paid directly into an account for whatever this is,"

On the right side of the screen, Dina allowed her mouse to float over the word, "Nirvana".

"The third element is a date, but it only gives the day and the month. October 14. No year,"

"How odd," Adam commented.

"Not necessarily. Especially considering what kind of site we are on. Usually, people aren't so careless as to put dates at all. I'm actually surprised that they even put a date,"

"But why does it list only one payoff? Is this just a one time customer?"

Dina shook her head.

"I'm not sure. I'm gonna have to do some more and deeper digging,"

Jason's eyes grew wide his breath catching in his throat at what had been revealed to him.

"Do you recognize something?" Dina asked Jason.

"I know for a fact that this," he said, pointing to the word on the screen, "Is one of the higher level passwords. Specifically, it's for the FBI's personal information files on our agents. Nothing too important or vital is held in these files, but nonetheless it is information that is now in the hands of our enemies," Jason explained.

"Who's idea was it to change the password?" Adam asked out of the blue.

"Agent Peters. She said it would boost our security," Jason told him.

"Why Nirvana? That's a rather odd password to try and remember,"

"She said that because it was so different, it would stick out in our minds,"

"Interesting theory," Dina muttered under her breath.

After examining every area of the page that she could, Dina finally let out a determined sigh.

"I'm gonna try something," she said, beginning to click and type on seemingly useless and ordinary areas of the page.

Suddenly, an ominous, high-pitched beeping began to resound throughout the room.

"What is that?" Jason asked, covering his ears in an attempt to save his hearing from the atrocious sound now penetrating the room.

"It's an alarm!" Dina yelled over the noise, fear evident in her voice as she desperately did her best to get rid of the noise.

"How did that happen!" Adam asked, trying to be heard over the screeching sound of the alarm.

"I'm not sure! Someone must have triggered it from another spot! Either that or it's an automatic defense mechanism that was placed into the program," she explained, yelling so Adam could hear her answer.

"What?" Adam called, not having caught everything that the teenager had said in explanation to him.

"Never mind!" she shouted back, trying to focus on disabling the mind-numbing alarm.

 **"WARNING. WARNING** ," an animatronic male voice sounded over the speakers adding to the mayhem that was going on at the moment, forcing the room to go into an even higher level of distress.

" **WARNING. TIME LIMIT REACHED. SITE WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN TEN SECONDS** ,"

The voice began to forebodingly count down from ten, the seconds ticking by much faster than Dina wanted.

Both men in the room began to panic, knowing that there was nothing they could do now.

It was all up to Dina and her computer skills now.

She hastily typed away, her fingers clicking her mouse faster than she ever had in her entire life as she tried to extract herself from the foreign system.

* * *

"Come on Sparrow," he said, staring at the screen with worry in his eyes.

He bit down on his lip so hard that if he had actually been paying attention to the pain he would have stopped, worried that he might cause blood to flow soon.

Then, without knowing what came over him, he yelled at the screen, hoping that some way, some how, she would hear him.

"Get out of there!" he screamed, standing from his chair with so much force that it fell to the ground with a resounding "THUD!".

Suddenly, without warning, the screen changed right as the countdown reached two.

He breathed out a sigh of relief upon seeing a normal search engine page.

"Good girl," he whispered with a smirk pulling at his lips.

"I knew you could do it,"

* * *

Dina couldn't allow panic to get to her. She wouldn't allow it to get to her.

She needed to keep her wits about her right now. She could break down later if she really wanted to, but right now she needed to be at one hundred and fifty percent concentration.

She furiously worked her way through the system, the voice ticking away the time and ticking away her nerves at the same time.

" **FOUR, THREE** ,"

" _DINA_!" Jason and Adam screamed in unison, complete and utter terror coursing through her name as they said it.

" **TWO** ,"

" _GOT IT_!" Dina yelled as she clicked her mouse on final time, the screen of her computer changing to her regular Google page.

Sighs emanated from the now silent room, each person filled with relief for different and similar reasons.

Dina collapsed back into her chair, her back hitting the plush back of the office seat, her anxiety melting away slowly as the reality that she had escaped in time sunk into her brain. She combed a hand through her hair, the sweat from her forehead mixing in with the jet black strands of her bangs as she brushed them away from her sticky skin.

"I think we should probably get you home," Jason said, standing from the floor and brushing the non-existent dirt from his clothes. "You better go home and get some sleep too Adam,"

"You won't hear any arguments from me boss!" Adam said gratefully.

Normally, Dina would have argued with the blonde man, stating that it was still far too early to head home and attempt to sleep. However, after what she had just gone through only a moment ago, there was no way that Dina could argue that it was too early to sleep. It seemed like that was the one thing that she wanted at the time more than anything.

She simply nodded in reply and began to pack up her things.

Dina barely made it to the passenger side of Jason's car, collapsing into the seat, exhaustion washing over her in waves. The grogginess of sleep was right on the doorstep of her mind, her eyelids involuntarily closing as Jason buckled his seat belt.

He chuckled at the scene before him, the teenager on the doorway of sleep in the passenger seat of the navy Mustang. He reached over and pulled the girl's seat belt over her nearly sleeping form, careful not to disturb her.

Jason was cautious as he drove, not wanting to wake his passenger as she had just settled into a comfortable sleep. He took a route in the downtown area of Gotham, avoiding many of the busier and bumpier streets, knowing that it might disturb Dina.

As soon as he pulled into the girl's neighborhood, he realized that he didn't actually know where Dina's house was. He knew the area of Gotham that she lived in, but the building in which she dwelled was still a mystery.

Silently, he leaned over to look through her backpack, eventually finding what he was searching for.

Jason cautiously got out of his car, closing his door as quietly as he could, considering the circumstances, and began to look through the girl's contacts on her cell phone. He was thankful she hadn't put any kind of password protection on it or else he would be completely sunk. As soon as he recognized one of the names, he pressed the contact, the touchscreen changing to notify that they were currently calling someone.

"Hello?" a female voice said from the other side of the phone.

"Hi, Artemis?" Jason asked, hoping that Dina's friend was the one to pick up the phone and not her mother or another female.

"Yes? Who is this?" she asked accusingly.

"Oh! Sorry! This is Jason. I, work with Dina at the internship," he explained hastily, hoping that she would buy the excuse that he had created on the fly.

"Oh! Cool! It's about time I actually _meet_ someone from her internship! Well, we technically aren't meeting in person, but I'll take what I can get. She's so secretive about it, I was beginning to wonder if it actually existed,"

"Oh trust me! It's very real!" Jason assured her, his words having a double meaning that only he knew about. Or at least, he hoped he was the only one who knew about it.

"Well what can I do for you Jason?" Artemis asked.

"It's my turn to drive Dina home today, and in my haste I forgot to ask her where she lives. I know what neighborhood she lives in, but I don't know her actual address, and I can't really ask Dina for her help right now," he said, glancing at the girl resting in his car.

"Let me guess, she's asleep,"

"How'd you know?" Jason asked, surprised that she guessed the right answer so quickly; and on the first try.

"I swear, the girl falls asleep better in the car than she does in her own bed. Anyway, her house number is 15890. I assume you know her street?"

"I'm standing on it right now. Thank you Artemis. You've been very helpful,"

"You're welcome. Hope to actually meet you in person one day. Bye,"

Jason said farewell as well, ending the call via the red button on the touch screen.

He tucked the phone into his pocket before he got back into the driver's seat of his Mustang.

He drove slowly, his eyes scanning all the houses on both sides of the street, looking for the house number that Artemis had told him.

" _15890\. 15890_ ," he repeated in his mind as he looked for the same number on a mailbox or side of a house.

Eventually, he found it, a larger brick house on the right side of the street, three stories tall with decently trimmed hedges the only evident plant life.

Jason was careful as he lifted the girl from her seat, her backpack slung over his shoulder as he made his way to the front door of the house. He rung the doorbell with his elbow, looking down at Dina when he realized that the ringing was a little louder than he had expected it to be. She simply stirred, before settling into his arms again, obviously not too affected by the bell.

A woman soon came to answer the door, her shoulder length black hair styled in much the same way that Dina usually styled hers. In fact, if he thought about it, Dina and this woman had several physical features that were similar. They both had black hair and blue eyes, and were very similar in build and height.

"Yes? Oh Dina!" she said softly as soon as she saw the sleeping girl.

"Are you Mrs. Trieson?" he asked.

"Oh no. We're not related. I'm her foster mom. Please, come in. Her room is upstairs, the first on your right," she told him, inviting Jason in as she directed him towards the stairs.

He thanked the woman as he made his way up the stairs, cringing every time he stepped on a squeaky step. He laid Dina down in her bed, sliding her shoes off before he pulled her bedspread over her sleeping frame.

He placed her backpack on the floor at the foot of her bed before he tiptoed out of her room, shutting the door behind him as he left.

"She fell asleep on the way here. I hope you don't mind me bringing her home," Jason told the woman once he made his way back downstairs.

"Not at all. In fact, thank you for bringing her home. She's been working so hard lately, it's nice to actually see her sleeping. I'm Selina Kyle by the way," the woman introduced herself, extending her hand to the blonde man.

"Jason Mayhem. I work with Dina at her internship," he replied, shaking the woman's outstretched hand. Man, did she ever have a strong grip!

"Oh, okay. I appreciate you helping her with this internship. It seems to be the only thing that keeps her going these days. That, and her few friends at school,"

"Miss Kyle,"

"Selina. Please,"

"Very well. Selina, why does… Oh!" Jason exclaimed, remembering that he still had Dina's cell phone in the pocket of his pants. "Here's her cell phone. I used it to call Artemis and ask her where Dina lives since I didn't know," he explained to her.

"Oh thank you," she said, receiving the technological item as Jason retrieved it from his pocket and handed it to the black-haired woman.

"That girl! I swear, she'd die without technology! I tried to get her to pursue other things, but nothing captured her attention as much as a set of computer encryptions! So, instead I encourage her to enjoy what she does, and do everything with as much vigor as she can. After everything that's she's gone through, I want her to be able to chase her dreams and make the most of her life,"

"What do you mean after what she's gone through? What happened to her?" he asked, apprehension beginning to sink into his mind at what the woman before him hand just alluded to so ambiguously.

Selina sighed, shaking her head slightly.

"She didn't tell you," she muttered. "That girl," Selina folded her arms over her chest, letting out a "huff!" as if she were getting upset about some invisible problem.

"What didn't she tell me?" Jason asked confused by the woman's words.

"I told her she can't keep everything bottled up inside. She needs to tell people these things or they will never know what will cause her to snap or not,"

"What didn't she tell me?" he repeated the question.

"That poor little kitten. Always keeping all her thoughts and feelings bottled up inside. Must be exhausting,"

Jason was beginning to get exasperated with Selina avoiding his questions, but he also didn't want to snap at this woman, thereby giving her cause to pull Dina out of the "internship".

"Excuse me Selina, but I have no idea what you're talking about,"

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry. I tend to talk a lot. At least, that's what all my little kitties tell me. Well, if you haven't heard it from her yet, she most likely won't tell you for quite a while. Mr. Mayhem,"

"Jason. Call me Jason," he told her.

"Jason," Selina repeated.

"Dina," she sighed, knowing how much her next words could possibly effect the future of Sarina Trieson.

"Dina, is an orphan,"

* * *

Ooooooh! A new development has been made! The mystery continues in more ways than one! I hope you are all enjoying this story. I am loving writing it, and can't wait to continue the chapters! Keep the likes, reviews, and reads coming!

Love, WOBE.

P.s. In answer to Guest's review on chapter 7, yes, Dick Grayson is Robin in this fanfiction. I'm very glad that you assumed it was him and not Tim Drake. Thank you!


	10. Backstory

"Dina, is an orphan,"

The words practically stung as Jason registered them.

Dina? An orphan?

But how was it possible?

Now that he thought about it, he never once recalled Dina mentioning her mother, she only ever vaguely mentioned her father, and that he had died several years ago. In fact, it seemed as if the girl barely referred to her family in any way, no cousins, aunts, uncles, or even grandparents could be recalled upon in Jason's memories.

"But how is that even possible?" he asked, not even realizing that he had asked the question out loud.

Selina sighed.

"Come sit down. I'll do my best to explain everything," she said, leading him into what Jason could only assume was the living room of the house.

"Dina's mother ran away when Dina was only two. Her father did her best to raise her considering the circumstances, giving her all the love he could. Unfortunately, he couldn't be both parents for her, and decided to give her up for adoption. Dina wouldn't have any of it though, and refused to go anywhere that her father wasn't. Almost everyone they came in contact with described them as wonderfully happy, enjoying every moment of every day together no matter what they were doing,"

"Dina told me that her father died several years ago. Do you know how?"

"At least she told you that much. It took four months of her living here to even speak a complete sentence consisting of more than three words. He was killed in a car accident, a drunk driver practically ran the poor man over. I still consider it a miracle that Dina even survived,"

"What do you mean?" Jason asked, confused.

"Dina was there when it happened,"

"You mean…"

Selina nodded.

"Dina witnessed her father die right before her eyes. It amazed the physicians that she didn't immediately go into shock. In fact, she was more helpful in putting the suspect behind bars than the police force. She gave a perfect description of the driver, kept her wits about her throughout the entire trial and even made a statement. All without shedding a tear,"

Jason shook his head in awe. How could a little girl not instantly fall apart after witnessing her own father killed in cold blood.

"How did she end up here?" he asked.

"It's a rather long story Jason,"

"Trust me. I have the time,"

* * *

The rain had been relentless on Gotham City today, pouring down from the clouds in torrents that would have made anyone shiver uncontrollably.

"Ugh! When will this rain ever let up?" a dark haired woman asked herself, pulling her coat tighter around her slender frame. "I wish I had brought my umbrella," she muttered, the wind trying to blow her hood from off her head for what seemed like the thousandth time.

The sound of the continual sloshing of her rubber boots in the muddy puddles on the sidewalk was interrupted by another sound that sounded suspiciously like a sneeze.

Selina stopped walking for a moment, trying to pick up the sound with her keen ears despite the precipitation.

"Hello?" she called out. "Is anyone there?"

Her voice echoed off the dark, empty streets, the orange lantern lights casting an erring glow from overhead.

She listened for a moment more, and when she heard nothing, she simply shrugged her shoulders and continued her journey to her home.

Then she heard it again, this time much closer than before.

"Who's there?" she asked, this time more authority in her voice. She refused to be jumped in the middle of the night and robbed. She wasn't as naive as she looked.

She heard no reply, but her senses were able to pick up some kind of sound being muffled, perhaps another sneeze or a cough.

Selina was overly aware of her surroundings now, all her senses on overdrive as she scanned the empty streets for any signs of life.

Suddenly, from the alleyway beside her, something leapt out in front of her, landing right beside her feet.

Instead of screaming and dropping her groceries in the fright like any other woman would have done, Selina prepared herself for whoever or whatever had come out at her, getting into a fighting stance within seconds.

Selina stared down at her feet, bright green eyes looking up at her.

A soft mewl escaped from the cat's mouth, causing Selina to practically melt like one of the puddles she had been walking through her entire trip home.

"Awe! You poor little thing! I'm sorry if I scare you!" Selina said, kneeling down to scratch the black cat between its sopping wet ears.

"Was it you that was making all that noise?" she asked in a sweet voice, the cat purring as she continued to pet the creature.

She was startled out of her enjoyable moment when the cat suddenly hissed towards the alley that it had just come from before bounding off into the street, disappearing into the darkness.

Now, it was fair to say that Selina Kyle was far from the typical woman, more likely to stay and fight for her wallet then just simply hand it over, or teach all of her foster kids self-defense as well as household chores, or investigate a dark alley instead of briskly walk away. Selina ventured carefully into the foreboding alleyway, watching her step as she went. Her blue eyes adjusted to the dim-lit place quite easily, scanning all areas for any signs of something that would have frightened the poor feline just moment ago.

A small sound emanated from a large cardboard box, it's wet flaps barely hanging on to the body of the box.

Selina knelt down, lifting the hanging flap to see what the box could possibly be holding.

What she saw, was the last thing that she expected.

The girl's black hair was matted and plastered to her forehead, whether from the rain or sweat, Selina didn't know. She was cuddled up in the box, her clothes soaked and her blue eyes filled with fear. As soon as she saw Selina, she began to hastily back up into the dark cardboard, her fingers clawing for anything solid to grab onto aside from the soggy box.

"It's alright," Selina assured her, giving the girl her kindest smile. "It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you," she told her.

The girl was still filled with terror, wrapping her arms around her knees to make herself smaller.

"I won't hurt you," Selina repeated gazing sweetly at the frightened child.

"Are you hungry? You look like you could use a nice hot meal. How does that sound?"

The girl looked hesitant, but eventually she gave a slight nod of her head, Selina beaming at the girl's positive answer.

"Wonderful! My house is just down the street," Selina told the girl, pointing in the direction of her house.

The girl hesitantly crawled out of the box, Selina rising to her feet to give her some space.

She had barely emerged from her soggy abode when a clap of thunder sounded from above them, lightning illuminating the dim alley. As soon as the thunder had passed, Selina realized that her once empty hand was now very much occupied by the little girl's much smaller hands, clinging to her arm as if it were her life line.

"It's ok Kitten. That nasty thunder isn't gonna get you if I can help it. You wanna hold my hand while we walk?" she asked, looking down at the child.

The girl simply nodded vigorously, her wet hair flopping slightly with the movement.

Selina smiled, leading the little girl out of the alley and onto the sidewalk, walking at a steady pace but slow enough that the child could keep up with her just fine.

The pair made it to Selina's house in what Selina would consider to be record time, the woman letting go of the child's hand to unlock and open the front door.

Selina hurried to get into the house, ushering the girl inside to get her out of the cold and rainy weather.

She involuntarily shivered as she removed her soaked raincoat and hung it on one of the hooks in the front hall of the house. She removed her rubber boots and carefully placed them in a black plastic tray near the door that held two other pairs of boots.

Selina had expected the girl to have followed her lead and remove her wet outer clothes, but when she turned around, the girl hadn't moved since they had gotten inside.

Selina shook her head but smiled, letting her know that she wasn't upset in the least.

"First I need to put these groceries in the kitchen, then we'll get you all cleaned up. Sound good?"

The girl nodded in reply, Selina smiling at her despite receiving the silent treatment. Selina quickly placed her three plastic bags on the counter, putting away the milk and frozen vegetables, knowing that everything else could be put away later.

"Let's get you out of those wet clothes shall we?" she asked.

The girl gave Selina a blank stare.

"I think I might have some things upstairs that might fit you,"

Without warning, the girl let out an absolutely adorable sneeze. She tried to cover her mouth with her hands, but they were obscured by her jacket's sleeves that were far too long for her arms. She wiped her nose on her sleeve, sniffling at the mucus that now filled her nostrils.

"Oh you poor thing! You must be getting a cold!" Selina cooed, approaching the girl and kneeling to feel he forehead. "Don't worry. We'll you get all nice and warmed up, and then all make you some nice hot soup for that nasty sneezing,"

Selina was actually surprised how quickly she warmed up to the child, wanting to take care of her so willingly even though she knew nothing about her.

The girl's eyes grew wide, terror filling her blue irises as she stared at something behind Selina.

Selina turned, confused at what could have gotten the girl so riled up.

"Oh Felicia! How did you get in here?" she asked the Siamese cat, walking towards her and picking her up in her arms. "You know you can't come in here," she said, sweetly petting the feline between her ears, causing her to purr.

"I'll be right back," she told the girl, walking to her screened in porch. "Now I know how you got out you silly girl!" she said once she saw the door opened just a smidgen. Selina opened the door and placed the cat just inside the room, putting more food in her food dish.

"Now you stay in here. I can't have Mrs. Warren come over and start sneezing her head off now can I!"

Selina left Felicia as she settled down into her bed, beginning to purr as she fell asleep and went back to her little visitor who hadn't moved from her spot.

Selina held out her hand for the girl, which she accepted albeit a little hesitantly. She led the girl to one of the upstairs bathrooms, setting out a few fresh and fluffy green towels for her. She started the water in the bathtub, checking to make sure that it wasn't too hot or too cold before she plugged the drain.

As soon as the bottom of the tub was covered in water, Selina pour some bubble bath into the running water.

Who says that women don't enjoy bubble baths?

"I'll get you some clothes. Can you watch the water for me?" Selina asked.

The girl nodded, the fear beginning to leave her eyes little by little.

Selina rummaged through some of the clothes that were too small for her, ones that she had just washed and was planning to donate to the local shelter.

"Well, they will certainly be too big on her, but it's the best I got," the muttered to herself, closing up the boxes after she found a shirt and a pair of shorts that she thought would work best.

She made her way back to the bathroom, surprised to find that the girl had turned off the water and had now taken off her jacket.

Her clothes were dirty, the sleeve of her smiley face t-shirt torn slightly by something unknown to Selina. Her pants were baggy cargos that had mud stains practically inground into the bottom of them. Selina only now noticed that the girl had brought a backpack with her, purple bat symbols on the light grey fabric stained slightly by the mud and rain.

" _She must have been able to conceal it behind her jacket. It was pretty big on her_ ," she thought.

"Do you want some help?" Selina asked, seeing how the girl struggled with getting the soaking shirt off.

The girl hesitated.

"If you want to do this by yourself, you're welcome to. I'll be right outside the door if you," but she was interrupted when she felt a hand around her wrist.

The girls shook her head.

"No. You can help me,"

Selina was shocked only for a moment before an earsplitting grin lit up her face.

"Alright," she said, kneeling down and placing the dry clothes on the counter. She helped the girl out of her sopping shirt, careful not to catch her hair at all.

The girl blushed, and understandably so when her shirt was suddenly vacant from her body. She seemed extremely shy and hadn't spoked to Selina until only a little bit ago.

"Can you get out of your pants by yourself, or do you need some help?" she asked the girl.

"I can do it myself," the girl replied, a silent signal to the woman that she wanted to be left alone while she undressed the rest of the way.

Selina left the bathroom, listening outside the door in case the girl needed assistance of any kind. She heard the settling and rustling of the water as the girl got in the tub, her soft sigh barely heard as she sunk into the warmth.

She continued to listen for a minute, and then heard the soft voice of the child say, "Excuse me," through the door.

Selina poked her head into the bathroom.

"Yes?" she asked, her eyes drawn towards the bathtub.

"Can you help me?" she asked sweetly.

"Sure I can sweetie. What do you need?"

"I can't wash my hair," she admitted, looking down at her folded hands in what looked to Selina like an ashamed manner.

"Oh that's ok sweetie! I can help you with that no problem!"

She retrieved a wide tooth comb from one of the drawers in the sink unit before she knelt beside the tub. The girl was covered in bubbles and had what looked to be the tiniest amount of a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

Selina tried to be as gentle as she could considering the condition that the girl's hair was in, doing her best to get the tangles out of the rain-soaked strands.

After much hard work and a great deal of patience, she was able to get her hair nice and tangle free, her fingers able to easily slide through it now.

"There! That feels better now doesn't it?" Selina asked, smiling broadly at the girl who replied to her with a nod and a slight smile of her own.

Next, Selina took the bottle of shampoo from off of the built-in shelf in the shower tub combo and began to lather the white gel into the child's hair. She combed her hands through her hair, careful to not scrape her fingernails against her scalp but deep enough that she could remove all the dirt and grime. She pulled the detachable showerhead from it's home and began to rinse the bubble out, trying not to miss any. She repeated the entire process a second time, wanting to get a nice smooth feeling to the child's hair. She rinsed one more time, grabbing one of the smaller towels from the stack that she had pulled out and set aside earlier, wrapping the girl's black hair up in the fluffy fabric.

Selina excused herself, saying that she would be down in the kitchen if she was needed for anything. Before she left, she pointed out the towels and the clothes again just so that the girl knew.

Selina hummed as she took out a pot and placed on the stove top, setting the element to high. She opened and pour a can of chicken noodle soup into the pot, placing the lid on the pot so that it could cook faster. She barely heard the soft pitter patter of feet as the girl entered the kitchen, towel still towered up on her head. The clothes she had been given were definitely large on her, the shorts looking more like pants on the petite child and the shirt falling to her knees like a sun dress.

"There you are! I'm sorry I couldn't find you any better fitting clothes. Perhaps we can go to town and get you some things that will actually fit you," she said with a warm expression on her face. "Would you like that?"

The girl nodded.

"Yes. Thank you,"

"You're welcome. Now, hop on up here and we'll get some nice hot soup in you," Selina ordered kindly, pointing with her ladle to one of the stools at the kitchen island.

The girl obeyed, crawling up onto the stool, her small fingers doing their best to grasp the piece of furniture with all of her might.

Once she was finally settled, Selina placed a steaming bowl of soup in front of her, a spoon soon following.

"Eat up," Selina told her as she ladled herself a bowl of soup.

When she turned around, she was surprised to find the girl with her head bowed, her hands folded as she uttered a silent prayer.

She paused to give the girl silence while she prayed. Soon, she had raised her head and dipped her spoon into the soup, blowing on the contents that her spoon now held.

"Hmmm," she hummed as the hot liquid made its way down her throat. "It's really good," she told the woman sitting across from her.

Selina beamed at the child, thanking her for her comment. "I would have made my grandmother's recipe, but it would have taken much longer and I thought you might like something to eat sooner than later, so it's just from a can,"

"I like it," the girl said, picking a carrot off of her spoon and popping it into her mouth with her fingers.

The pair ate in comfortable silence, enjoying the warmth that the soup gave them, coursing all the way down to their toes. The girl soon removed the towel from her head and Selina returned it to the upstairs bathroom, hanging it on one of the hooks.

When she returned, a thought struck her that she hadn't yet told her guest her name.

"Oh! Where _are_ my manners! My name is Selina. Selina Kyle,"

The girl's eyes lit up upon hearing the kind woman's name.

"And what would you like me to call you?" she asked the girl, noticing how her eyes shone under the lights.

"My name's Sarina," she said.

"Well! Isn't that something! We practically have the same name! It must have been fate that brought us together!"

"You can call me Dina if you want though. Everybody does," Sarina told the woman, spooning another mouthful of soup into her mouth.

"That would make things slightly easier. If you don't mind though, I would like to call you Sarina for a while. Just until we get to know each other. Is that alright with you?"

Sarina nodded.

"Yeah,"

She paused for a moment, stirring her meal in her bowl.

"I like your name. It's really pretty," Sarina said, smiling a truly genuine smile at the woman who had taken her in.

"Thank you. I think your name is very pretty as well,"

"Thanks,"

The two finished up their meal, slight conversation being exchanged between them as they emptied their bowls.

"Come with me, and I'll show you to your room. You can stay as long as you want," Selina told the girl as she put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

Selina kept her word, leading Sarina to one of the two guest rooms in her house. She turned on the lights, and began to pull the sheets back for Sarina who quickly got under them.

"Do you have a fan?" Sarina asked.

"Of course. Let me get it for you," Selina said, going to the closet and retrieving the black metal fan. She plugged it into the wall, tilting it away from the bed so the girl wouldn't have any chance of getting any more sick than the slight cold that she had already. She turned it on, making sure that the sound wasn't too powerful or too weak.

"I'm in the bedroom right next door if you need anything at all. Don't hesitate to come and ask me, alright?"

Sarina nodded.

"Thank you Ms. Selina,"

"Please, just call me Selina. I already feel like we're family, what with are names and all!" she smiled at the girl,"

"Ok, Selina,"

"Good night Sarina," she said, brushing the girl's now dry bangs from her forehead and placing a soft kiss there.

"Good night," Sarina muttered, her eyes closing involuntarily.

Selina couldn't help but gaze at the child fondly, hoping that this wouldn't be the child's first and final time in her life.

She didn't know why, but she wanted to keep this girl safe, make her life better whatever her situation was to begin with.

"Sleep well my little stray kitty," she whispered before she exited the bedroom, unaware of the life that would soon be before her.

* * *

"It took several months, but I was soon able to get custody of Dina, becoming her foster mother in the process. She's been with me ever since, and she was the start of my eyes being opened to other unfortunate children in Gotham. She has been instrumental in getting my life out of the rut that it was in for a long time,"

"Wow. How old was she when you found her?" Jason asked.

"Six. She eventually told me the whole story behind how she had ended up running away from the orphanage and making her way to the alley on my street. I still believe that we were brought together, whether by God or some other hand of fate, I will never know. All I _do_ know is that that girl has been a blessing to me in more ways than one. I never would be where I am today without her,"

"Then I need to thank you for allowing her to become a part of all of our lives through this internship. She really blossoms there and she has really brought a lot of life back into us," Jason told her, putting forth his hand as he stood from his seat.

"I know. She tends to do that pretty much everywhere she goes without even realizing it," Selina replied, rising from her chair as well and shaking the blonde man's hand.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Selina,"

"And you Jason. Thank you for taking care of my little girl,"

"You're welcome,"

Selina saw him to the door, waving as he left the street. She stole a glance towards the stairs, a smile forming at the corner of her lips as she recalled a little girl in too big clothes and a green towel piled high on her head making her way down those same steps.

She walked up the stairs and towards a certain bedroom, stopping in the doorway to grin at its slumbering occupant. She turned on her fan, removed the girl's socks from her feet and placed a tender kiss on her forehead, brushing away the dark bangs from the skin.

And then she whispered into the night, a phrase she knew so well but still meant every word as she did when they were first uttered almost ten years ago.

"Sleep well my little stray kitty,"

* * *

There you go! The background of Dina and how she came to live with Selina! Hope you guys all enjoy it! Remember, Sarina Trieson is my OC and you need to ask if you wanna use her. Thanks! :)

WOBE


	11. Complications

The game was cat and mouse, and both women could play it exceptionally, neither giving away any hints that one knew what the other knew and vice versa.

So it really was no surprise to Dina when she eventually discovered that her adoptive mother had known of her after-school activities for quite some time. It also didn't shock the women when she realized that her daughter knew that she had knowledge about Jason and the true nature of the "internship".

"And you're not mad?" Dina had asked her at breakfast one morning after she had discovered that the woman had known, shocked by the calm exterior of her mother.

Selina shook her head.

"I wouldn't have let you take the internship unless I knew the major in's and out's of it. You forget that I have connections too. In fact, I was surprised you were able to keep it a secret for so long,"

"I learned that from you," Dina replied, a smirk gracing her face.

"You certainly did," Selina said, smiling warmly as she loaded the dishes into the dishwasher.

"Thanks for breakfast Mom. May I be excused?" Dina asked.

"Of course. Have a good day at school,"

"Thanks!" Dina replied, sliding a strap of her backpack onto her shoulder and embraced the woman before she bolted out of the door.

Selina followed her to the door at a much slower pace, leaning against the doorframe to watch her daughter run down the street, a cartwheel or two making it into her journey. The woman couldn't help but smile, shaking her head at the teenager who lovingly referred to her as mother.

 _"At least I could do that much,"_ she thought to herself as she went back into the house to continue cleaning up breakfast.

* * *

Wally was staring again.

And Dina could sense it.

He couldn't help it. For the past three weeks one of his best friends had only been attending classes for the first half of the day and then "poof!". She would just disappear until the next morning at seven thirty when she would act like nothing had happened.

So it had shocked him when she had made it all the way through science, lunch, _and_ gym as if she had been doing nothing but for the past few weeks.

Then came the real test.

And to both Artemis and Wally's complete and utter astonishment, she passed.

Not only the Spanish test that they had just gone through, but also the entire school day without a single disappearance. In fact, she had stayed within view of either Artemis, Wally, or both of them at all times.

"Ok, what's wrong?" Wally finally asked, fed up with not being able to understand what was going on with the black-haired teenager.

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"I mean, why aren't you asking to be excused in the middle of science, or being wisked away to the internship of yours?"

Realization suddenly dawned on Wally and he let out a gasp.

"Did something happen? Did you get – you know – (gulp) fired?"

"Wally!" Artemis hissed at him, smacking his arm.

"Ow!" he replied, flinching at the pain before he sent the blonde a death glare. "What was that for?!" he demanded.

"You can't get fired from an internship!" she told him, her hands landing on her hips menacingly.

"Actually, you can get fired from an internship. And before you ask again, no Wally, I was not fired. I'm actually just taking a break. Jason said that I need to focus my attention on my school right now. And if they need me to work on something, they set up my computer at home so that I could do just that," Dina explained, interrupting the redhead.

"So, you're back for good? Or just a few weeks?" Artemis asked.

"Artemis!" Wally exclaimed dramatically, slapping her arm in much the same fashion that she had slapped him a moment earlier.

"Ow! Wally!"

"You can't just ask her something like that! How obscene of you!" he cried, his hands going every which way until one rested on his forehead in a pose that made him look like he was about to faint in mere seconds.

"Drama class again?" Dina asked Artemis, crossing her arms and jabbing a thumb in the direction of their male companion.

"Yeah! How did you know?" Wally asked, returning to his normal voice.

"I could just tell," she replied.

"It was the accent, wasn't it?! I knew it didn't sound British enough!" he said, forcing himself to speak the second sentence in his over-the-top British man voice.

"You sounded like you were constipated," Artemis said truthfully.

"Hey!" he said, glaring at the blonde.

"Well I think you accent is fine Wally. It's the execution that needs some help," Dina told him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Help? It needs mouth to mouth!" Artemis claimed walking out of the now empty classroom and into the hallway.

"Hey! That is so a lie!" he yelled, running after the blonde girl.

Dina shook her head, smiling at her friends. They really were perfect for each other. Just as she stepped out into the hallway, she heard a familiar voice call her name.

She turned to see the principal coming towards her, his green tie swaying with every step he took.

"I'm glad I caught you! I need to speak to you for a moment. Do you mind coming back with me to my office?" he asked.

"No. I don't mind," she replied.

"Great!"

The principal led the way to his office, Dina following close behind him, texting Artemis to let her know that she would only be a minute.

"After you," he said once they had arrived, gesturing for her to head into the room first.

"So, what can I do for you Principal Queen?" she asked, her curiosity starting to get the best of her as she took the seat across from his desk.

He relaxed into his chair, folding his hands on top of his desk to look the girl straight in the eye.

"I've been watching your progress in school as well as in your internship," he said, putting extra emphasis on the final word in the sentence. "However, I have also noticed that you are lacking some extracurricular activities in your plan to graduate," he explained.

"Now hold on Principal Queen, I've done plenty of extracurricular classes in high school. In fact, I did more in junior high so that I wouldn't have to do that many in high school," she explained, hoping that this would satisfy him. "And besides, doesn't my internship count for something?"

The principal shook his head.

"I'm afraid not Dina,"

"What? But I'm helping the government for crying out loud!" she cried, slamming her hands down on the armrests of her chair.

"You know I can't count that Dina! What you are doing with the FBI is confidential, something that no one - repeat, no one – can know about! I'm sorry, but there's no other option. You need to take at least one extracurricular activity this semester. There's no other way around it,"

Dina ran a hand helplessly through her black locks, untangling a few in the process.

"I tried to convince the school board that your grades were good enough to get you through to graduation without the need for extracurricular, but they wouldn't budge. Despite your exemplary grades and attendance, your missing two credits that can only be filled by a non-required class. I may be able to run this school how I see fit and kick obstinate FBI agents out of it, but the board is what controls whether or not a student can graduate,"

She knew just how influential the man sitting across from her could be. She had seen firsthand how he could convince almost anyone of anything, so the fact that he couldn't impact the school board to think differently about her grades proved that he truly had no wiggle room whatsoever.

"What are my options?" she asked after a good five minutes of thought and silence.

The blonde man let out a sigh of relief.

"I took the liberty of typing up a list of the available activities this semester. You can look over them and get back to me with your answer on Monday,"

Dina nodded.

"Ok. Thank you Principal Queen,"

"No, thank you Dina. I wish there were something that I could do, but my hands are tied. In this area, the board has more power than I do,"

"Well, I appreciate you for trying anyway," she thanked him, shaking the hand that he extended to her.

Dina walked the empty halls of school, her mind occupied as her feet carried her naturally towards the door. How was it that she could be the best student in the entire school, but was still forced to take extracurricular? It wasn't that she hated them or even simply disliked them. In fact, she would love to have taken more classes such as attend drama with Wally. It was the people who attended the classes that she wanted to avoid; but of course, she had no such luck this time.

She was so lost in thought, that she didn't even notice that her two friends were still arguing as she came down the steps of the building.

"You don't even realize how ridiculous your accent was!" Artemis said, her hands firmly planted on her hips as she leaned forward into Wally's very red face.

"Oh yeah? Well Dina liked my accent! She told me I did a good job! Maybe you should ask her!" he shot back.

"Maybe I will! What do you think Dina?" Artemis asked, turning her attention to the black-haired girl.

"Dina?" she asked a second time, her voice softer when she noticed that her friend wasn't answering her question.

Dina plopped down on the steps of the school, sending both her friends into panic mode, both asking her questions about her welfare at a mile a minute. Wally stopped almost as soon as he had started when he noticed the pained look on her face wasn't one of physical pain, but rather a mental blow.

"What happened? Are you ok? Did you,"

"Artemis," Wally interrupted the blonde, sending her a stern look.

"What?" she snapped at the redhead.

"Look," he said, pointing to the piece of paper in their friend's hands.

"What is it?" she whispered, leaning closer to Wally.

"You know I can still hear you right?" Dina asked suddenly, causing Artemis to nearly jump out of her skin.

There was a moment of silence between the three friends before Wally ended it by clearing his throat, drawing the attention of both girls.

"It's the extracurricular sheet isn't it?" he asked.

Dina looked at Wally with amazement.

"How'd you know?"

"Wait. You mean he's _right_?" the blonde questioned, her mouth agape as she stared at the redheaded boy.

Wally knelt down in front of her and Artemis sat next to her, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"I was given the same thing last year. They said I needed to take extracurriculars each year if I was planning on making it to graduation considering that I had qualified for the track team. The one nice thing about track was that whenever I was in a competition, they counted that towards my total extracurricular 'points' so to speak,"

Dina's head suddenly jerked upwards, her ears interested in what her redheaded friend had just said.

"What did you just say?"

"That the school board made me take extracurriculars last year too,"

"No," Dina shook her head. "Not that. What you said about track competitions,"

"Oh, that. What about it?"

"What are you getting at Dina?" Artemis asked, seeing the I-just-got-an-idea-and-it-could-be-brilliant-or terribly-stupid look in her friend's eyes.

"I think I just found a way that I can make the school board happy and not want to kill anyone in the class I take," she said, jumping up from her seat.

"That would have to be a pretty ingenious feat, Dina," Wally said, standing from his kneeling position.

"Can you guys wait for me for a few more minutes? I wanna talk to Principal Queen before he leaves,"

"Sure," Wally replied, shrugging his shoulders.

She quickly thanked them and ran back up the stairs, through the front door and out of the sight of her two best friends, leaving them dumbfounded at what had just happened.

Oliver sighed as he turned the key in the lock of his office door. He honestly didn't see a point in locking his door, but he had been told by the board that they didn't want to take any chances in any of the students being able to obtain any confiscated items from that week. Not that there weren't items he wanted to protect, he would kill whoever decided they wanted to take his stapler, but he just didn't see the necessity of it.

"Principal Queen!"

Oliver sighed again, turning towards whoever had called his name.

"What?" he moaned, turning in a very tired fashion.

He perked up when he saw just _who_ had called for his attention.

"Dina?" he asked, confusion clear on his face and in his voice. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you to,"

"You – you did! B-but, I think I m-might h-have a solution," she panted out, leaning forward in an attempt to catch her breath after running down several different halls in an attempt to locate the man standing in front of her now.

Another sigh emanated from the principal's lips. He needed a vacation.

"Dina, you know you can't count any work that you do on the school computers towards extracurricular classes. Whatever you do must be with other students,"

"I know that," she said, standing up straight once she had almost completely caught her breath. "I was just talking with Wally,"

"Oh no," Oliver groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Just hear me out!" Dina pleaded with him, a hint of hope in her blue eyes.

"Alright," he finally conceded.

"I was talking with Wally and he told me that the board counted any competition that he was in towards his extracurricular,"

"Yes, that's correct. The board encourages the students to participate in anything that has contact with more students. Physical competitions such as track or soccer practically triple the number of people that students have to interact with making it highly beneficial. Why?"

"Well, I thought that maybe the school board would allow me to pass the necessity of extracurricular activities if I were to participate in one of the sport competitions held with the school,"

"Dina, there aren't any openings on any of the teams," the principal told her, an apologetic look on his face.

"Actually, I know for a fact that the gymnastics team is missing one of their members due to a recent incident with the uneven bars and they are looking for one more person to fill her spot,"

"And how do you know this? You know what, never mind. I don't want to know!" Oliver said, shaking his head and holding his hand out in front of him to keep the girl from replying to his question. "It doesn't matter. The board will never allow it Dina. You haven't even had time to work with the team!"

"No, but I am an expert gymnast and the team needs an extra person or else they won't be able to qualify for the preliminary round for statewide!" she pleaded.

"Dina,"

"Just ask Coach Curry! I'm in tip top shape and I have been practicing my moves on a constant basis over the weekends. He can even tell you how many times he's had to kick me out of the gym!"

Dina clasped her hands in front of her, her face set into the most beseeching expression that she could muster.

"Pleeeaaaaassssssseeeee?" she begged.

Oliver sighed again. Now he _deserved_ a vacation.

"Let me speak with the coach first and then I'll get back to you,"

Dina let out an exuberant whoop, punching her fist into the air as she jumped almost two feet in the air.

"I didn't say yes,"

"But you also didn't say no!" Dina called back to him, running down the hallway backwards.

Oliver shook his head.

"France should be nice this time of year," he muttered to himself.

"I'll get it!" Dina yelled, sliding down the banister and landing haphazardly in the kitchen to retrieve the ringing phone, only to fumble with it before finally pressing the talk button and saying a breathless, "Hello?"

"Hi Dina, this is coach Curry," the blonde man said from the other side of the phone.

"Oh – hi!" she replied, trying to catch her breath from the straight sprint she had just made for the phone.

"Are you alright? You sound like you just ran a marathon,"

"I kinda did," she muttered.

"What was that?" the coach asked.

"Nothing! Anywho, what can I do for you coach?" she asked, returning to the subject at hand.

She bit her lip in anticipation at what the man would say, every word either bringing her closer or further from her goal.

"Well Oliver told me about your desire to join the gymnastics team. Now it is rather late in the season, but with Katie breaking her ankle and all and our team needing to qualify, I've decided to allow you to join but only on one condition," he added quickly, his knowledge of Dina's interrupting skills quite extensive.

"Name it!" she practically screamed through the telephone.

"You need to work with me for two weeks straight, no interruptions. You will need to work well with the team for at least a week before we head off to compete. I need team unity to some extent if we are going to doing well by any means. Can you do that for me?"

"You can count on me Coach!" she said, saluting towards the telephone.

"Good. Now get some sleep. We start training tomorrow morning at nine,"

"You got it. And Coach Curry?"

"Yes Dina?"

"Thank you. Thank you for letting me be on the team. I won't let you down,"

"You're welcome and I know you won't. Get some sleep,"

Dina nodded before she hung up the phone on its charging stand. She smiled widely as she ran to her mother's room, her cheeks flushed from the exertion and excitement combined.

"So? What did Arthur say?" Selina asked as she folded a shirt, placing it in the open dresser drawer in front on her.

"I'm on the team,"

I smile instantly spread across the woman's face as she turned towards her daughter, opening her arms welcomingly.

"Congratulations!" she said as she embraced the fifteen-year-old, combing her fingers through the ash colored locks.

"Thanks Mom,"

"You'll do a spectacular job. When do you start training?" she asked, pulling away to look at the girl's face.

"Tomorrow at nine,"

"That late?"

Dina shrugged in reply.

"I think he wants to start off slow and then work his way up. He doesn't want to outwork me on the first day. I mean, then I'd have to join Katie!"

Selina laughed, her blue eyes twinkling with mirth. "Well you better head to bed then. We wouldn't want you to be all groggy for Arthur in the morning. He would never forgive me if you did!" she said, ushering the teenager out of her bedroom and towards her own.

Selina kissed her daughter's forehead as she said goodnight, turning off the light as she left the room and closed the door behind her.

As she went back to folding her clothes, the sound of a new message arriving on her cell phone, dinged.

She sighed once she saw the name flash across her screen. Unlocking the phone, she read the message with rapt attention to every word written.

Dialing the two on speed dial, she placed the device to her ear, waiting as she heard it ringing.

Once.

Twice.

"Hello?" a gravelly voice answered, one that would alarm anyone who wasn't Selina Kyle.

"Hey. It's me,"

She heard a grunt on the other end. Obviously, he was working on another one of his late-night projects.

"I got your message,"

"I figured you had since I got a call from you fifteen seconds ago," he replied, muttering something else under his breath.

"How very observant of you," she said playfully, a smirk pulling at her lips.

"Thank you. I try," he replied dryly.

"So now that everything's in place, what happens next? You take me out to dinner? Or are you too busy being Sherlock Holmes?" she asked, crossing her free arm.

"Ha! He _wishes_ he were me!" the voice replied.

"I'm sure he does," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Now,"

Selina could hear the clinking of metal, several grunts following before the voice on the other line spoke again.

"Now we wait,"

"And stick to the shadows," she finished for him.

"Exactly. Everything will work out in the end,"

"I sure hope you're right," she replied, turning her gaze towards Dina's closed bedroom door. This was more dangerous than anyone truly realized.

"Selina,"

She was shocked out of her trance by the sound of her name being spoken.

"She will be fine. Remember, Sherlock Holmes is jealous of me,"

"He sure is," she said, a small smile on her lips.

"I'll talk to you later. Sleep well,"

Selina heard the click on the other end as the call ceased to exist. She stared at her screen for a moment before she sighed, whispering, "You too Sherlock,"

* * *

Who was the mysterious person Selina was on the phone with?

What plan are they talking about?

Is Dina in danger?

How will she do in gymnastics?

And what on earth is going on with the whole FBI thing?!

All these questions will be answered in time! There is only one thing to do….

Keep reading! Keep commenting! Keep following! Keep favoriting! And of course, keep yourself updated about chapter additions! Yaaaaaaayyyyyyy! Another chapter! I haven't updated this story in a while, but I had this chapter in mind, so I put it down on 'paper' FINALLY!

Hope you all enjoy this chapter and story!

I don't own DC characters. DC does. I own Sarina Trieson and the plot. I also own Mayhem, agent Peters, and Yizovski. Everything else, DC owns.

WOBE


	12. Changes

"Again!" Arthur yelled to the girl who simply nodded in reply.

It had been a crazy three weeks of training for Dina, first with just the coach but eventually and gradually with the other people in her group.

In a way, she felt like a superhero. During the day she would go to school and practice gymnastics like she was the most normal teenager in all of Gotham City; but at night, she would turn into Sparrow, scanning the internet for any signs of the "Robin". She had received several leads from both black and white hat hackers, but none of them had produced "Robin" like she had wanted.

As the weeks went, she go to know the members on her team better, learning the important facts that she needed to know if she planned to survive the competition.

First there was Raquel Ervin, a strong gymnast with a great deal of experience. While she certainly had been in a lot of competitions, most of which she had won or received high scores, she wasn't haughty about it. She was arguably the best gymnast that Gotham High had, and yet she was also one of the nicest people that Dina had ever met in all of her fifteen-years of life. She was also Dina's greatest competition in the group, but she honestly couldn't bring herself to hate her.

Second was Irma Ardeen, a pretty blonde with a great deal of talent. She was nice enough, but she liked to keep to herself, interacting with people only if she was required to and spending most of her time glued to the side of Garth Ranzz, her boyfriend who always seemed to be present at practices despite the fact that he wasn't a part of the team. The only thing that caused Dina to dislike her was the fact that she tended to correct others without seeing any fault in herself no matter what anyone said to her.

The final girl on the team had been Katie Willows, who had broken her ankle when she had missed her grab on the higher uneven bar. While she wasn't allowed to compete, the coach had been gracious in allowing her to sit in and watch, giving pointers to the other gymnasts only if they asked or needed it.

Two boys were required to finish the five-member team, so Arthur had convinced one of his students on the swim team to join the group. It was quite apparent that Kaldur Ahm felt more comfortable in water, but he was talented nonetheless. His skills on the rings were unparalleled and his advice was better than anyone would have guessed. Although he seemed like a fish out of water with a team he had been practicing on for a year, he seemed more comfortable with the coach or Raquel.

The last member of the group was Roy Harper. A hot-headed and temperamental senior with a knack for questioning authority and perfect pommel horse routines. His red hair was a color that matched his personality to a tee, his anger a constant problem. Yet, he was talented like all the other members, willing to go the extra mile despite his problems with his uncle Oliver, who just happened to be the principle.

Then of course, there was Dina who had joined the team late, causing quite a bit of tension between the members. Irma had instantly taken a dislike to her due to the fact that she had been on the team for years while Dina just up and joined. She had to say that he feelings towards the blonde were rather mutual. Roy seemed indifferent to her joining, while Kal and Raquel gladly welcomed her, claiming that it was nice to see some new talent.

"Nice, nice. Keep that up Dina. More height on those rings Roy! Smoother Dina, smoother!" the coach called to his students, folding his arms over his chest and tapping his finger against his chin.

"I need a full spin in the air on that next vault Irma!"

"Keep those legs together Kal!"

"Go again Dina,"

"More speed in your turns Raquel,"

The day was filled with practice, each gymnast unable to escape the watchful eye of Coach Arthur Curry. Eventually, he knew that he couldn't work them any harder or else they would collapse from the sheer exaustion of it all.

"All right, that's enough practice for today guys. But I'll see you all here tomorrow after school," he called to the five teenagers in his gym, each of them groaning at the prospect of what tomorrow held.

"So glad today is over at least! I don't think I could take another practice vault!" Raquel said, sitting up on the padded tumbling mat that she had decided to sprawl out on.

"Oh I know! I think I have blisters on top of my blisters!" Dina teased, folding her legs into an indian position as she joined her dark-skinned friend.

"I enjoy a good workout, but I do believe Coach Curry was aiming for perfection and we just could not deliver it. I think I disappointed him," Kaldur pointed out, the disappointment in his voice causing both girls to feel sorry for him.

"Hey! It's alright Kal! We all were just having an off day today I think. Right Dina?" the dark-skinned girl asked her fellow female.

"Of course. I mean, did you see how horrible my landings were!?"

"You're right! Your landings are the best on the team! If you messed up, then that means we have a couple inches of wiggle room!" Dina pestered the girl playfully.

"See Kal! We all have off days. Even Little Miss Perfect Trieson over here!" Raquel said, jabbing an elbow towards the fifteen-year-old.

"Hey! I'm far from perfect!"

"With routines like _that_ you were,"

The group instantly turned from their jovial selves to serious, their faces turning downwards into frowns upon hearing the one member none of them wanted to come in contact with, speak.

"I mean, were you trying to fail in front of Coach Curry?" she asked snidely, her one hand on her hip as the other rested on the top of her pink gym bag.

"I think she was trying to make your routines look better Irma," Raquel shot back, a smug look of victory on her face as a look of mixed horror and disgust crossed the blonde's.

Irma let out an indifferent huff and walked passed the group and into the empty hallway of the school, the double doors of the gym swinging wildly behind her.

"That's Irma for you," Raquel muttered, rolling her eyes at the blonde girl's overdramatic exit. "What are you gonna do now Dina?" the darker girl asked, standing up to retrieve her coat and grey and navy gym bag.

"I've got a new software I wanna try out on my computer," she explained, sliding her arms into the sleeves of her winter jacket.

"Girl! When are you gonna make time for yourself to have a little fun?" Raquel asked.

"To me, encryption codes and diverse algorithms _are_ fun," Dina replied emphatically.

"Suit yourself!" she muttered in reply.

"What about you Kaldur? What are you going to do for the rest of the day?" Dina asked the taller boy, moving the conversation away from herself.

"I was hoping to get some swim practice in. there is no harm in keeping one's body in good condition," he replied, slinging his navy blue and red gym bag over his other shoulder.

"Well I am going home and eating a whole box of Twinkies while watching as many different Cinderella movies as I can before I fall asleep. You're welcome to join me if you want to," Raquel presented to the other girl, looking at her with a hopeful expression as they exited the gym.

"No thanks!" Dina giggled, shaking her head at the offer.

A shrill beeping sounded through the empty hall, bouncing off the walls and encasing the trio in the high-pitched sound.

"I gotta go!" Dina yelled, running ahead of her fellow gymnasts.

"You sure Cinderella isn't trying to get your attention?" Raquel called after her, cupping her mouth to make the sound travel better.

"Save me a Twinkie!" Dina shouted back, give a half-hearted wave above her head before she rounded the corner and was out of sight.

She was out of breath as she burst through the front door, wheezing from the pure exhaustion. She collapsed to the floor in a pile of sweat and shivers, the beginnings of colder weather starting to settle into her very bones.

The fridge seemed to be beckoning to her, a beckoning that she gladly accepted, opening the door to the appliance and staring in, hoping that her mom had decided they needed more yogurt or had made cupcakes.

"Jackpot!" she whispered upon discovering a red-lidded container with cinnamon rolls.

"Must be leftovers from the baking class. Hope their Diana's" she thought to herself, reaching for the container and licking her lips in anticipation.

Diana Prince was one of Selina Kyle's closest friends and an incredible baker. She had convinced Selina into taking a baking class with her and to Dina's pure and total delight, her mother had said yes. Now, their fridge contained countless goodies, some made by Diana and others made by Selina; all of them perfect prey for the fifteen-year-old.

Dina took a deep bite into the first one she could get her hands on, moaning as the flavors of cinnamon and sugar burst to life on her tongue. She was so happy her mom had said yes to a baking class.

"Sarina? That you?" the voice of her mother called faintly from upstairs, breaking the girl's sugary moment with the sweet roll.

"Yeah Mom!" she called back up, hastily packing away the rest of baked goods and placing them silently back in the refrigerator.

"I thought I told you to ask before you eat any of my baked goods,"

Dina jumped at the sound of her mother's voice directly behind her, whirling around and slamming the fridge door in the process. How could she do that? Dina swore she was like a cat when it came to stealth and speed.

Selina stood, her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, her mouth drawn into a thin line.

Dina swallowed hard before she took another bite of the cinnamon roll.

"Put it back. Now," Selina ordered her, none of her physical actions wavering as she spoke.

Dina bowed her head and groaned as she opened the door again and took out the container, putting the half-eaten treat back with the others of its kind.

"You're not allowed to finish that until tomorrow after practice. Now go up to your room. I'll call you back down when dinner's ready,"

Dina dejectedly made her way up to her room, the sound of her mother muttering under her breath almost burning in her ears. She wiped at the tears beginning to form in her eyes as she entered her room, closing the door behind her. She always hated when she disappointed her mom, especially when she knew that she knew better.

She quickly changed out of her gymnastics gear before she opened her door again, not wanting to miss when Selina called her for supper.

Through blurry eyes she turned on her computer, a message popping up as soon as the machine had powered up. She wiped away the tears with the back of her hand, attempting to see what was on her screen better.

The message blinked with a bright light, the words jerking the teen out of her slum.

 _"Heard you've been looking for me,"_

It was him. And he had contacted her on her home computer.

She knew that it had the same system as the main computer back at the FBI headquarters she had been working at, but that didn't occur to her in the moment.

 _"I might have been,"_ she typed in reply, noticing that the website was an under-the-table sale site for tech that was most likely stolen or created by hand. Myriads of gadgets were listed along with outrageous prices, the ones claiming to be one of a kind being bid on with price tags as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars.

She only had to wait for a minute before she received a reply to her message.

"That's not exactly confirming or denying what I said, Sparrow,"

She smiled slightly after reading that.

 _"Well if you must know, I have been asking around about you,"_

 _"Ah! The truth finally comes out!"_

Dina let out a short breathy laugh at that, smiling a little bit more as she realized that her tears had started to dry.

 _"Anyhow, why were you looking for me?"_

 _"I wanted to thank you for your assistance with MR. Seventy-two the other day. You really saved my skin,"_

 _"Actually, you did that all on your own. You are a very capable hacker, Sparrow,"_

Dina blushed at the comment, before she shook her head, bringing herself back down to earth before she really had a chance to take off.

 _"Focus Sarina,"_ she told herself bringing her attention back to the screen.

 _"Keep up the good work. You might just catch me one day,"_

Dina was alarmed by his message, typing a reply as quickly as she could but to no avail.

Robin was gone.

She sighed as she sank back into her chair, running her hands through her hair.

"Sarina, supper," her mother's voice called up from the bottom of the stairs.

She replied with a short, "Coming!" before she bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen.

As soon as she saw Selina placing two plates of food on the table, Dina couldn't suppress the tears she had been trying so hard to.

"I'm so sorry Mom!" she cried, running into the older woman's arms.

"Oh, Kitten! I forgive you!" Selina said, combing the girl's dark hair.

"I just don't want you to fill up on sugars and carbs. You know how you get when you've had too much sugar,"

Dina nodded in reply, sniffling.

"I do what I do to protect you. You know that right?" Selina asked, pulling away from her daughter's embrace so that she could look her in the eyes.

Dina nodded, looking into a pair of eyes so similar to her own.

"Thanks Mom," she whispered, hugging the woman yet again.

"You're welcome Sweetie. Now, how bout we eat, hmm?"

"Sounds good," Dina said, rubbing her running nose on her shirt sleeve and smiling warmly at the woman before her.

"Good. Now go blow your nose,"

Dina laughed as she grabbed a tissue from the box in the living room and then returned to the delicious looking meal awaiting her at the table.

"This looks amazing Mom,"

"Glad you approve. You're gonna need to keep your strength up for competition next week," Selina said as she sliced into her chicken, popping the piece she had cut into her mouth.

"I forgot it was next week! Time has gone by so quickly!"

Selina looked across the table at her daughter, taking in the girl that she had become.

"Yes," she sighed.

"It certainly has,"


	13. Competition

Rarely did any teenager willingly wake up before their alarm; but then again, he wasn't just any teenager.

In fact, when the alarm started blaring its regular annoying and repetitive shrill sound, a teenager emerged from the on-suite bathroom, currently in the midst of brushing his teeth as he walked across the room to the device in seven quick strides, his hand slamming down on the "off" button. His black hair which would normally be immaculately combed had been left free for the day, the inky strands resting nicely above his brilliant eyes.

He returned to the bathroom, spitting out the fluoride before he finished in the room by washing his face and hands.

He returned to his bedroom, opening the dark curtains to greet the rising sun with an excited grin on his face.

"Morning Gotham," he said, staring out at the wondrous city that was laid out before him like a treasure map. He really had a fantastic view.

He hastily grabbed his duffel bag from its resting spot at the foot of his bed, bolting out the door of his bedroom with an energy that mystified most people.

He slid down the banister of the stairs, having memorized the squeaky steps ages ago and opting out of setting any one of the off in his haste.

The seventeen-year-old came to a sudden halt when he passed his father's office, backing up slightly to peer through the open door.

His father stood in front of the empty fireplace, his chin resting on his hand while the other was crossed over his chest. Even when he was thinking, the man was something to behold; something the boy desired to emulate to the best of his abilities.

He was like a statue, his stoic demeanor causing him to be a force to be reckoned with, no matter the situation.

The boy perked up when he heard sounds coming from the kitchen, meaning that breakfast had been served. He turned his attention to his second favorite room in the house, bolting towards it with the same amount of energy but with as much silence as a jungle cat.

The boy smiled as he saw the plate of eggs and sausage, a set of silverware on top of a nice, white napkin, and a glass of orange juice and a white paper note set neatly beside the plate. He took his seat at the counter, said a quick prayer for his food, and then proceeded to dig in, reading the note as he ate.

He smirked at the words their trusted butler had written before he carefully tucked it into the pocket of his sports jacket, shoveling another mouthful of scrambled eggs into his mouth shortly thereafter.

The sound of a car engine alerted the boy, his head instantly turning towards the front door as he took his final bite of eggs, wiping his mouth off with the napkin before he downed the rest of his juice and grabbed the single sausage still left, sticking it into his mouth as he ran towards the door. He bounded down the front steps, slamming the front door behind him.

A man opened the back door of the limousine, his head leaning out as he called out toward the teenager.

"Come on Dick! While we're young!"

He didn't need any more motivation than that.

* * *

"Woah," that was the one word that was on everyone's minds as they entered the gymnastics arena.

People had already started to file into their seats despite the fact that the competition didn't actually begin for another hour or so.

"This place is _huge_!" Raquel exclaimed, her mouth agape at the splendor of it all.

Dina simply nodded in reply, too shocked to actually say anything.

"I heard we're competing with three other gymnastics teams in Gotham City alone. I wonder if it's actually true. Most likely just a rumor," Roy said, shrugging his shoulders.

"How are you not excited about this? Or at least concerned?" Raquel asked the redheaded senior.

Roy shrugged his shoulders again.

"I strive in chaos. Just ask my uncle," he said, walking past the rest of the group and towards their coach who was standing by a set of chairs and waving.

Once the rest of the team arrived at their assigned spot, they were able to see the entire layout of the floor. All of the teams consisted of two boys and three girls, each one receiving an assigned set of chairs that had been placed on the main floor surrounding the performance floor which was raised by a good two feet. They were closest to the parallel bars and the pommel horse. Beside the pommel horse was the floor and behind the floor the uneven bars were located. Slightly behind the parallel bars was the balance beam, enough space between the two in case each was in use at the same time. The vault was the furthest away from their spot, the rings to its right and the horizontal bar sandwiched between the parallel bars and the vault, plenty of space created between the different apparatuses. All in all, it was an incredible set up, all of the equipment state of the art.

Dina was still in awe when her attention was brought back to Coach Curry as he began to speak.

"Alright, you have each been assigned a locker and here are your name tags. Your identification number for the entirety of the competition is on the back," he explained, handing each teenager a metal key and a plastic-coated picture ID attached to a blue lanyard.

"I've already checked all of you in for the team competition, but you will all need to sign yourselves in for the individuals. Remember, you are only allowed to sign up for the events that I placed you in the other day. Kaldur is on rings, horizontal bar, and floor while Roy is on vault, pommel horse, and parallel bars. Raquel is on floor and vault, Irma is on beam, and Dina is on uneven bars. Got it?" he asked, looking from one student to the next.

They all confirmed by nodding.

"Good. Now, in the team competition I switched the guys up aside from pommel horse and rings. you are both still doing those respectively. Make sense guys?"

"Yeah," Roy confirmed, crossing his arms.

Kaldur simply nodded in reply.

"Good,"

Arthur let out a deep sigh of relief, a slight smile forming on his lips.

"Alright, Lynxes on three," he told them, each placing their palm on the pile their coach had started to form with his own hand.

"One,"

"two,"

"three,"

"LYNXES!" they chorused together, throwing their hands into the air with all the pride they could muster.

"Now, I want you to each get in a little practice before the event. Raquel will be first with the floor, so I want her to get practice as quickly as possible. You can do whatever you need to for about twenty minutes, but then I want you back in here to practice, alright?"

"Ok," the five of them responded in unison, nodding as well.

"I'm gonna go find my locker. This gym bag is starting to get heavier by the minute!" Dina told Raquel, heading towards the girls' locker rooms.

"Ok!" she replied, waving as she took off her jacket and readied herself for practice.

It took longer to locate her locker than she had expected, but eventually Dina was able to find locker 2481, inserting her key into the lock and swinging the metal door open with an obnoxious sounding squeak. She proceeded to unpack some of the items from her bag, things that she knew wouldn't be needed for the day. Once she had finished, she zipped up her now half-empty bag and slung it over her shoulder.

Raquel was still practicing on the floor, her handsprings looking good as she bounced and flipped her way across the padded floor.

Her attention was only removed from the darker-skinned girl when she noticed someone out of the corner of her eye.

She turned to find that the "intruder" to their teams seats was actually Roy, the tall redhead sitting with his arms resting on his elbows and his eyes trained on something on the opposite side of the floor.

"Watcha looking at?" she asked, sitting beside him and plopping her duffel on the floor.

"See that group over there?" he asked, pointing at another team of gymnasts just across from their seats with his chin.

"Yeah. What about them?" she asked after glancing in their direction.

"That's the Gotham Academy team. The Falcons,"

"That's them?" she asked, totally shocked.

Roy nodded.

"They went undefeated last year," the redhead said, his gaze never once leaving the teenagers as they stretched.

"see that redheaded girl?" he asked, nodding towards a teenage girl going down into the splits.

Dina nodded.

"That's Barbara Gordon,"

"That's her? I hear she's the greatest Junior gymnast in all of New York!"

Roy shook his head, standing up to stretch his arms over his head.

"Not anymore she's not,"

"What do you mean not anymore? What happened?"

"That title was taken away almost ten months ago. In fact, I'm surprised it wasn't taken away earlier," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Dina looked across at the girl, her form perfect as she did a handstand before leaping to her feet again seconds later. How could someone be better than her?

"It's your turn," Roy said, laying his hand on her shoulder.

She jumped, surprised by the sudden contact.

"What?" she asked, having not heard what Roy had said to her.

"I said, it's your turn to practice Trieson," he told her, walking away towards the pommel horse which had just opened up.

"Right," she muttered, nodding as she headed off towards the uneven bars, wrapping her hands as she went. Once she had gotten there, she placed her hands in the chalk bowl, dusting her hands off and clapping once to get any excess powder off her fingers.

She was about to take to the bars, when she saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye.

"Excuse me, but I believe I was up next on the bars,"

Dina turned to see Barbara Gordon, her hair tied up into a tied bun while her hands rested on her hips. Her sleeveless blue and white leotard was obviously her own personal choice and not her team uniform.

"Oh! I'm sorry. My teammate informed me that I was next," she apologized to the redheaded girl, stepping back from the bars.

"Well, your teammate was wrong," she said, a hint of callousness laced into her tone.

"Excuse me?" Dina asked, the underlying tone not lost to her ears.

"You heard me. Your teammate was wrong,"

"I don't think so. Roy may be a lot of things, but he's the most informed member of our team. He wouldn't tell me something if it wasn't true,"

Dina knew for a fact that Roy may not be very close to his fellow team members, but he would never lie to them about anything, no matter what it was. It was also true that he stayed more informed about the innerworkings of the team than anyone else, making him the man to go to for any and all schedule changes.

"People do change kiddo," she told Dina, walking past her towards the uneven bars, ready to use them.

"Hey!" Dina exclaimed, her cry falling on deaf ears.

"You'll just have to wait your turn kiddo," Barbara said, turning back towards the lower of the two bars.

"I just waited my turn for the past half hour! It's my turn now!" Dina's anger began to flare up, her fists tightening into balls at her sides. "You can't take my spot when you just got here five seconds ago!"

Barbara ignored her again, shaking her head at the delays that were being incurred upon her practice time.

"Hey!"

Dina looked around when she realized that the second protest didn't come from her. It was a male voice; and it had come from the other side of the arena. Both girls turned their attention in the direction from which the voice had come, a tall teenager strider over with anger written in his blue eyes.

"She told you it was her turn, then it's her turn," Roy said, looking down on the redheaded girl.

"It's not like everyone has a schedule of practice times. We all just do what we can, when we can," she explained, standing her ground.

"Just because you're a preppy doesn't mean you get to push people around. It's her turn now. You'll just have to wait your's,"

"I don't have to stand here and listen to this! I can practice any time that I want!" she said, raising her voice as she looked up at the taller Senior.

"Not according to the schedule. Now back down! Before I make you," he threatened through gritted teeth, the muscles in his arms starting to constrict and tighten.

Barbara paled before she slowly backed away, her hands in front of her protectively as she cautiously made her way back the rest of her team.

"Thanks for that Roy," Dina thanked him, smiling upwards at him.

"Not a problem. Be careful around her,"

That was all Roy Harper said before he returned to his own interrupted practice on the pommel horse.

There weren't any more incidents for anyone on the Gotham High team, each member practicing just as hard as the next before they were called off the floor by the announcer over the loudspeaker, informing everyone that official competition would begin in ten minutes.

The group reconvened around their couch as he explained the rules and the set up.

"Alright, right now is the individuals for men's floor, rings, and pommel horse and for women's beam and floor. Tomorrow are the other individual events and Saturday is when the team competition starts. They changed up the events for the other athletes that have to do two events today, so instead of Raquel on floor, first up is Kaldur on the rings and he will be eleventh. After rings is the beam and Irma is seventh. Then Roy goes on pommel horse in the twelfth position, followed by Raquel on floor in last. Kaldur will end it with the floor,"

All of the group nodded in understanding, ready to go out and do their best for their teammates and their coach.

Each of them filed back to their seats as the announcer spoke again, listing the events in the order in which they would be performed.

"First up on the high rings is Fletcher Midas of West Gotham High school," he said, the crowd applauding as the brunette made his way to the rings.

It seemed that everyone on the team was glued to their seats as they watched the different candidates from each school participate in the rings, each talented in their own right despite some minor mistakes and a few miss-landings.

"Next is Kaldur Ahm of Gotham City High School,"

They all waited with bated breath as they watched Kaldur perform his routine, each turn calculated and performed with as much skill as he could. Once he landed, his feet never deviating from their spot, the entire team stood and cheered, Coach Curry whistling with his fingers while everyone clapped outrageously loud.

"You did it!" Raquel practically screamed, pouncing on the poor boy as he made it back to the group. Roy chuckled and bent down to offer the darker boy a hand which he gladly accepted.

"You were amazing Kal! I think that was the best routine you've ever done!" Dina told him clapping her hands in front of her.

"Well, you certainly improved your turns," Irma said, her arms crossed but the corner of her lips turning upwards just the slightest.

"The scores for Kaldur Ahm of Gotham City High School," the automated female voice spoke over the loudspeakers, the entire team collectively biting their lips as they waited.

"16.212,"

Another round of cheering was heard from their group as they celebrated the high score, still in the green by a good margin and winning him a solid second place.

The team started to settle back down into their seats as they waited for the next person to go, his routine almost as good as Kaldur's but his score in high fifteen's rather, landing him into fifth place.

They had gone through nineteen of the teams and Kaldur still remained in his second spot placement, his team growing more excited as well as nervous as the teams performed, finished, and were scored.

"Oh no," Roy whispered under his breath, the words barely making it past his lips.

"What? What's wrong?" Dina whispered to the redhead, having heard what he had said due to their seating arrangement.

"Gotham Academy," he muttered back.

"Up next for Gotham Academy, is Richard Grayson-Wayne. We thank Mr. Bruce Wayne for his generous donation of all the equipment you see here today,"

A spotlight shone suddenly on a tall man, his black suit crisp and clean as he stood to wave to the crowd, a warm smile on his face. A moment later, the spotlight had disappeared and the crowd focused their attention on the competitor for Gotham Academy.

Dina could almost feel the laughter of all the people in the place at the sight of the teenager. He was merely a boy really, his black hair matching his black and red gymnastics uniform quite well. At least he had some fashion sense.

Although he looked small, too small for rings, the boy shocked the entire stadium with his skill. Kaldur had been performing on rings for almost three years, and yet he was still unable to perform some of the aerial acrobatics that this boy could! Every movement was crisp and executed to near perfection, his muscles straining but never giving way. Then, when Dina thought they couldn't take another shock, the boy made his landing; and he did it perfectly.

The stadium was shocked into silence aside from one person's clapping, the sound echoing throughout the nearly quiet arena almost ominously. Then the crowd broke out into wild cheers, the surprise still there but beginning to melt away.

"And to think folks! He's only sixteen years old!" the announcer spoke, causing the people to cheer even more.

The boy smiled up at the crowd bowing and waving as he began his descent from the platform.

"You know how I told you earlier that Barbara Gordon's title of greatest Junior gymnast in New York?" Roy asked Dina, leaning closer to her so that she could hear him better.

"Yeah,"

"Guess who stole that title,"

It was understandable once the scores came through.

"16.989," the animatronic voice spoke, eliciting more cheers from the crowd.

"Almost perfect," Dina whispered under her breath.

* * *

Whelp, there's another chapter! I hope it wasn't too choppy or weird for you guys!

Again, DC owns all recognizable characters. I own nothing aside from a few select character names and the plot. And Sarina Trieson.

Enjoy!

WOBE


	14. Human

Dina stared wide-eyed at the black-haired boy who was currently being congratulated by his teammates, smiles and handshakes exchanged.

He was only sixteen, and yet he could perform a routine so complex and do it a nearly flawless fashion?

There was no way he was human.

The boy's score bumped him into a resounding first place position, therefore moving Kaldur's score down to third place.

It was quite apparent after that, that every member of the Gotham City High School team had their fingers crossed as the last four teams had their competitors for the rings go, each one eliciting a sigh or relief when they failed to reach a score higher than Kaldur's.

Dina gritted her teeth impatiently as they waited for the scores of the final team, Richemont High School.

"Come on! Give the score already!" she muttered, nervousness coursing through her veins as she had her fingers crossed in front of her.

"The scores for Brandon Walters of Richemont High School," the animatronic voice spoke finally.

The next five seconds seemed agonizingly slow as they listened with bated breath for the final score that would decide whether Kaldur was on or off of the podium.

"16.178,"

The stadium was dead silent for a mere second before the entire group from Gotham City High School burst into rounds of cheering, screaming at the top of their lungs the joy they felt for their teammate winning a bronze medal.

"You did it Kal!" Coach Curry exclaimed excitedly over the cheers of his other students and the clapping from the crowd.

"What an exciting first event! Bronze going to Gotham City High School, Silver to North Oswego High School, and Gotham Academy seizes the gold!" The announcer proclaimed over the loudspeaker, people clapping when their school was spoken.

The celebration couldn't last long however, for the next competition would begin in only half an hour.

Irma didn't get nervous. It wasn't her thing. Tonight proved to be different though.

"I don't think I can do this coach," she said, clutching at her stomach as she gazed out at the balance beam with trepidation.

"Irma, look at me. Look at me!" Coach Curry ordered her, putting his finger under her chin and forcing her to look him in the eyes.

"You, can, do, this. You have practiced your routine a hundred and thirty times at least. You know it inside and out. And even if you do get nervous, remember that we are right here and we will cheer you on and be proud of you no matter how you do,"

"You mean that?"

Raquel approached the blonde and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"We all do. You're gonna do amazing," she said, offering Irma a reassuring smile.

She thanked her team members, asking for a group hug before she prepared for her turn on the beam.

"The scores for Irma Ardeen of Gotham City High School," that same female voice announced, pausing while the judges submitted the final score into the system.

"16.682,"

Irma's eyes widened, her jaw going slack from shock as her teammates ran up and embraced her, hugging her to death while she simply stood and stared at the screen with those five large numbers moving her up into first place. Irma suddenly snapped out of her trance, joining in with the celebration that her friends were producing.

Her smile went from ear to ear and stayed that way throughout the entirety of the competition, cheering on those who competed no matter where they were from.

Neither Dina or Raquel could understand what had changed their fellow girl teammate, her normally surly and disinterested attitude nowhere to be found.

Raquel was so surprised, that she even whispered to Dina during the fifteenth competitor, pointing to the blonde beside them with her thumb. "What's up with Irma? She barely cheers for her own teammates much less the people who are trying to beat her score!"

Dina shrugged.

"Maybe she realized how nice it is to be a part of a group,"

"Maybe," the dark-skinned girl muttered, eyeing their teammate suspiciously as she clapped for the brunette who had just finished the balance beam for Roosevelt High School.

She continued her amiable attitude even when she was dumped down from her first-place spot by the blonde girl from Gotham Academy, her routine receiving a higher score of 16.697.

The biggest surprise came when they announced the winners of the medals and Irma leapt up to hug both the girls, sweeping them into an overly enthusiastic embrace faster than either of them could believe.

"Congratulations to all of the young ladies who participated and gave us a very close and heated balance beam competition! Bronze goes to Roosevelt High School, Silver to Gotham City High School, and Gotham Academy adds another gold to their total!" the announcer called out excitedly, the crowd erupting with applause and cheering as he spoke.

Roy was almost exactly in the middle with his performance position, something that pleased him to no end. He didn't like being last or first due to the undo amount of pressure that was placed on the shoulders of those who performed in those spots, and always preferred to be somewhere in the middle.

His momentum picked up as he continued his routine, his arms working hard to keep himself from falling to certain failure, and despite the fact that he had a less than perfect run, he was proud of it.

"The scores for Roy Harper of Gotham City High School,"

The pause always seemed to be the worst part of every competition.

"15.891,"

Roy shrugged his shoulders upon seeing the score, his teammates jubilant in spite of his less than pleased reaction.

The results were given for the final four gymnasts, three of them passing Roy's score to knock him down from second place into fifth.

Regardless of the scoring outcome and Roy's placement, the team was still exuberant, hugging him and offering him congratulations on having the highest placement yet on the men's Pommel Horse for Gotham City High.

"I could've done better," he stated later as they watched the girl's floor routines.

"You did your best Roy. Perfection is something that none of us can truly achieve, but you performed to the best of your ability which is all that anyone can ask of us," Kaldur encouraged him, placing a strong hand on the redhead's shoulder.

Roy gave him a soft grin, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly more than they normally would.

"Thanks Kal," he replied, offering forth his hand which the dark-skinned teenager gladly accepted, a smile lighting up his own face before the pair turned their attention back to the floor where Raquel would be performing in a matter of minutes.

Raquel was nervous, and both Irma and Dina could tell as she completed her routine with an unsteady landing. She had made several small mistakes, but the step out of bounds would certainly come back to bite her later when scoring was calculated.

"The scores for Raquel Ervin of Gotham City High School,"

Raquel couldn't bear to look, choosing to bury her face in Kaldur's shoulder rather than face the humiliation of her placement on the electronic board. Kaldur wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, trying to console her while the score was announced over the loudspeaker.

"14.763,"

Raquel was a strong person and an even stronger gymnast, so it was no surprise to anyone that she didn't break down upon being immediately eliminated from the medals by getting seventh place. Instead, she assured everyone that she would be alright and that she would simply do better in her final single event tomorrow.

"Are you sure your gonna be ok?" Dina later asked her friend, watching her with sympathy embedded into her blue eyes.

"Yeah. I'll just have to cheer louder for Kal is all," she replied, a sad smile gracing her face as she gave the black-haired girl a hug.

The final event began, Kaldur going fourteenth in the standings but finishing in fourth just behind the Asian boy from Xavier Academy.

Kaldur shrugged as he turned his attention back to his teammates, all of them coming in for a group hug.

"Let's not forget that we had a great first day today. Kal won the bronze on the rings and Irma won us the silver on the beam. We are not defined by our scores and we will rise above this. We are gonna do amazing tomorrow too. So let's hold our head high. We are Lynxes!" Arthur said to his students, getting their blood pumping for the competition tomorrow.

"All medalists please return to floor," the announcer spoke, cutting through the rallying moment Coach Curry was sharing with his students.

"Go," he instructed Irma and Kaldur who simply nodded in reply, hugging their teammates in one last group hug before they left.

Kaldur waved to his friends while he stood on the podium, receiving his medal with as much pride as he could, raising it above his head after his had been hung around his neck.

Irma almost cried when the silver medal was placed around her neck, holding back the emotion by smiling uncontrollably out at the crowd and her team.

Once all of the ceremonies had been completed, the announcer said that the arena would be closing in an hour. All of the medalists returned to their school groups, showing off their prizes and receiving hugs and congratulations.

"It's Kaldur right?" a voice asked, interrupting the excitement from the Gotham City High students as they awed the bronze and silver medals of their teammates.

Kaldur turned to see the boy from Gotham Academy who had won the gold in the rings, said medal hanging around his neck. Up close, he seemed a lot less intimidating. He had a handsome face, his inky black bangs were swept over his bright blue eyes, intelligence buried deep in their oceanic irises. He was about the same height as Kaldur, perhaps slightly shorter with a very pleasant and almost playful attitude about him. He was certainly well-built for being only sixteen and it was obvious that he had been training for quite a long time.

"Yes. That is me," he replied, turning his attention to the slightly shorter boy.

"I'm Richard. I just wanted to congratulate you on a very impressive performance. Both of you in fact," he said, directing his final sentence towards Irma.

"You have some great techniques. I hope we can continue to be honorable competitors?" he asked, putting forth his hand towards Kaldur.

Kaldur smiled and graciously accepted the boy's hand. It surprised him how firm the boy's hands and handshake were, feeling the multiple calluses beneath his own fingers.

"Indeed we shall. I look forward to competing against such a valiant opponent," Kaldur told him.

"Likewise. Keep up the good work. All of you," he said, his genuine smile never once leaving his face as he turned away.

"Well that's a first," Roy muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What is?" Dina asked, he eyes never leaving the black-haired teen.

"No one from Gotham Academy congratulates anyone outside of their own team. It's like, their trademark or something," Raquel replied. "But this guy,"

"Richard," Kal supplied.

"Yeah, Richard. He's the first to ever do something like that. He must be a new breed of snob," she added.

"All I know is that that kid is competition. _Good_ competition," Roy added to the conversation, the other three of his partners nodding.

Dina watched the boy as he walked around the arena, congratulating everyone who had competed that night whether they received a medal or not. She even saw several other participants congratulate him and offer him hugs, high-fives, or fist bumps.

At that moment, Dina could no longer deny what she had thought earlier that evening.

It was confirmed.

He wasn't human.

* * *

Really wanted to crank out another chapter to help you guys out! This was more like a filler chapter really.

Hope you enjoy it!

WOBE


	15. Richard

Dina noticed how empty the arena was at six in the morning, only a half dozen dedicated gymnasts were there practicing, sharpening their skills for the competition in several hours. She plopped her gym bag down on the floor next to one of the chairs in the group marked for her high school, adding her jacket on top of it.

She proceeded to stretch herself out, her arms and legs becoming nimbler after the lack of use from sleeping. She had planned to get some much-needed practice on the uneven bars today, so she had woken up earlier in hopes that she would be able to avoid the redhead from Gotham Academy. Looking around, she realized that her plan had been a success.

She was just about to walk past the horizontal bar when a sudden downward rush of wind and a muted "THUMP!" on the padded surface caused her to jump, falling backwards with the sudden motion. She closed her eyes, preparing for the sudden impact, but it never came.

Dina opened her eyes to find that an arm had reached out and grabbed her, gradually pulling her back up to an upright position.

Once she was back on her feet, her attention was drawn to the source of her original terror.

"…I just forget where I am sometimes," the voice trailed off almost as soon as Dina realized that her savior was speaking.

She shook her head to regain her barings, looking smack dab into a pair of blue irises.

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" he asked her, a wry smile lighting up his face.

"Sorry," she apologized sheepishly, embarrassed that she hadn't been paying attention in any capacity.

"Nah, it's fine! I was just apologizing for scaring you. I tend to forget where I am when I practice my gymnastics," he explained.

Dina got a good look at the boy, remembering that she had seen him last night. His outfit had changed though, since he was now sporting a black and blue tank top, his black knee length gym shorts tying the outfit together perfectly. The boy certainly had style.

"You're that kid from Gotham Academy," she paused, snapping her fingers to try and recall what he had introduced himself as the following evening. "Richard! Richard Grayson-Wayne!" she finally exclaimed, proud of herself for her memory.

He nodded in reply.

"Yep. That's me. Although almost everyone I know calls me Dick," he said as he unwound his white arm wraps. "You can call just call me Dick Grayson if you'd like," he said, reaching forth his partially unwrapped hand towards her.

"I'm Sarina Trieson," she replied, shaking his outstretched hand. "But I prefer to be called Dina,"

"Nice to meet you Sarina Trieson who prefers to be called Dina," he replied, returning her handshake.

"Let me guess, you're on the uneven bars," he said, formed in more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah. How'd you know?" she asked, curious.

Dick shrugged, finishing unwrapping his one hand and moving onto the other. "I saw your little incident with Babs yesterday," he explained.

"Oh," she replied, rubbing her arm self-consciously. "I didn't mean to cause any problems for you team. I almost punched her,"

Dick looked at her, one of his jet eyebrows raising slightly over his bright blue eyes.

Dina instantly realized what she had just admitted to out loud, her eyes growing wide as she covered her mouth with her hands, hoping beyond all hope that the action could erase the words she had just spoken.

Dina expected the boy to either get angry at her and either yell or stomp away from her. That, or he could laugh outright at her admittance, causing her to feel even more embarrassed than she was already feeling.

However, Dick responded in the most unlikely way possible.

"Oh, Pft!" he said, his hand gesturing in a dismissive manner. "That's nothing. I've actually done that," he said, turning to look upwards at the horizontal bar.

"Oh my word! You actually punched her? What did she do?" Dina asked, shocked that the boy would be so bold.

Dick turned his head back towards her, a smirk spreading across his face.

"She ducked," he replied.

Dina chuckled at that, trying her best to avoid going into full blown laughter at Dick's confession.

Suddenly, she realized that she really had no reason to stay. The conversation was over and she really needed to practice on the uneven bars while they were open.

"Well, I better go. Don't want to keep you from your practice. It was nice to meet you Dick," she said, walking past him and heading towards the uneven bars.

"Are you kidding? I already finished practicing half an hour ago," he said.

Dina froze upon hearing his words, turning to find him stretching his arms out.

"Then, why were you up on the horizontal bar if you weren't practicing?" she asked, growing more curious by the minute.

"To keep in shape," he replied as if it were the most natural response ever.

She gave him an odd look, this time her own dark eyebrow rising above her eyes in much the same manner as Dick's had only moments before.

"My Dad wants me to be in the best physical shape that I can be. He says a sound body can make the difference between victory and defeat,"

"What about your Mom? Doesn't she have a say in all of this training you do?"

Dick's jovial attitude changed faster than Dina would have ever thought possible for a human being. His mouth turned downwards into frown, his eyes were downcast and even his bright eyes seemed to dim with an unknown and unspoked sadness.

"My Mom died when I was seven," he admitted, not bothering to look Dina in the eyes as he spoke.

"Excuse me," he muttered, turning abruptly and striding over to the edge of the giant podium. He plopped down on the mat, his shoulders beginning to shake almost immediately.

Dina quickly recovered from the sudden change and ran towards the teenager, slowly sitting down beside him. She was unsure if she should put her arm around this almost complete stranger's shoulders, or just opt for comforting words.

She sighed, letting Dick know that she was there. She didn't want to surprise him after all.

"I lost my Dad," she admitted finally.

Dick turned toward the girl, noticing through the gaps in his ebony bangs that she was as mournful as he was, her folded hands resting between her knees, a sorrowful expression on her face.

"What happened?" Dick suddenly asked, his voice slightly hoarse.

"It was raining. I remember that better than anything else. It had been raining almost all week. My Dad and I had decided that staying cooped up in the apartment wasn't going to make us feel any better, so he convinced me that we should take a walk. It was the last walk I ever had with him,"

Dick listened intently to her tale, hanging on every word.

"We were on our way back when it happened. My Dad was much faster than I was and pushed me out of the way of the car; but in order to save me, he sacrificed himself. The man was clearly drunk, his car skidding to a stop on top of the sidewalk that my Dad and had just been on. I will never forget the face of the man who killed my father for as long as I live. My Mom was never in the picture. She left when I was little and never looked back,"

Dina wiped away the tear that made its way down her cheek, her hands balling into fists as her teeth began to clench.

"Three blocks," she finally muttered, the tears now beginning to flow.

"That was how far from how we were when he was killed,"

"I know how you feel," Dick sighed. "My family was murdered too,"

"What happened?" Dina asked, feeling like it was her turn to pose the question.

"They all just fell. They kept falling; and I was powerless to help them,"

Dina wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders, Dick returning the gesture to the girl by wrapping his own arm around her.

"You know, I've never told anyone that story. Not even my best friends Wally and Artemis know the whole story," Dina admitted after they shared a comforting moment of silence. "But for some reason, I felt like I could trust you," she said, looking into the bright blue eyes of the boy sitting beside her.

"I know what you mean. You just felt,"

They both paused for a moment before one word slipped from their lips in unison.

"Safe,"

Dick chuckled at that, Dina slowly joining in until they were both bending over with laughter. Eventually their laughter ceased, Dick standing and stretching once their emotions had settled back down.

"Would you mind if I watched you practice? My Dad says I need to take a break every once in a while," he asked, reaching down a hand to help the girl up.

"Is this the same Dad that tells you that you need to keep your body in good shape?" she asked as she stood with Dick's aid.

"Yeah. One and the same,"

Dina shrugged.

"I don't see why not. Maybe you can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong," she said, brushing imaginary dirt off her gym shorts.

"I don't know. Are we allowed to help out the enemy?" he asked, tapping his chin with his forefinger as he pretended to be deep in thought as they began to walk towards the uneven bars.

"Ugh! Even after that tender moment we shared back there?" she asked accusingly, her voice laced with a playful tone.

"I guess when you put it _that_ way," he said, receiving a playful elbow jab from the girl.

"Ok, so when I meet someone new, I always like to ask five different questions. That way, I can get to know you a little faster,"

"Alright. So, what's your first question, _Richard_ ," Dina asked, putting unnecessary emphasis on the boy's given name.

"Well, _Sarina_ ," he replied, tossing her a smirk as he said her full name. "I would very much like to know what your favorite of all the colors would be. If you please," he said, his British accent throwing Dina into a fit of giggles as they continued their walk.

"That is – so good! How do you – do that?" she asked between her chuckling.

"Our butler is very British. I just imitate him,"

"Well, in answer to your most apropos inquiry, _Richard_ , my favorite color would have to be purple," she replied in her own terrible British accent.

"Really? Purple?" he asked, stopping in his tracks as he heard her answer.

"Yes. How about yours?" she asked continuing their journey.

"Blue," he replied without any hesitation.

"Hmm," she hummed in appreciation for his good taste in color.

"Alright, I have a question for you," Dina said suddenly, whirling around and pointing at the boy, her finger almost directly touching his tank top clad chest. Her cheeks began to color at their proximity, hastily removing her finger and clearing her throat in order to ease herself. Dick didn't seem a bit frazzles by the situation.

"So? What's your question?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"The announcer said yesterday that you're sixteen,"

Dick waited for the punchline, hoping that she really wasn't just making a statement.

"Yeah, so?"

"So, is it true? Are you really only sixteen?" she asked, beginning to wind her hands with the white arm wraps left for the gymnasts at all of the different apparatuses.

"What? No!" he said, the same dismissive hand gesture from before making a second appearance.

Dina didn't really understand why she felt disappointed by this revelation.

"I'm only fifteen. They bumped up my age to make it seem more believable. I don't turn sixteen for another five days," he told her.

"Wait, your birthday is November eleventh?" she asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Mine is November twenty-ninth!"

"A fellow Novemberite, huh? Whelming!"

"Huh?" Dina asked, a puzzled look on her face.

"Sorry! Another story for another time!"

"So wait. Let me get this straight, you are only fifteen and yet you were able to perform a routine like that on the rings last night?" she asked, shock evidenced in every physical feature.

"Yeah. So? I was performing more complicated stuff when I was ten," he admitted proudly. "Dad forced me to knock it down a bit to give these people a show. He didn't want me to blow up the machines like last time,"

"Last time?" she asked, intrigued.

"Yeah. When I was in the individual males' competition in Romania. They had to recalculate their scores on paper because I had gotten a perfect score and the computer couldn't calibrate it,"

"You got a perfect score?" she asked, utterly amazed that only a fifteen-year-old could achieve such a feat.

"I've gotten several perfect scores. That's why Dad tells me to hold back a little. This is a competition after all. People want edge of their seat suspense and rivalry. We can't very well deprive them of that, now can we?"

Dina thought about it for a moment before she nodded in reply.

"Glad we agree. Now, let's see what you got,"

Now that she had met the guy, there was no doubt in Dina's mind whatsoever;

He _couldn't_ be human.

* * *

YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY! THEY'VE FINALLY MET!

I wanted to use Dick's canon birthday in the DCU rather than his canon YJ birthday. Hope that makes sense! Also, it is said that Dick is Romanian, which is where I got the inspiration for perfect scores and such. Can anyone say Nadia Comaneci?

Also, I wanted Dina's birthday to be the birthday that I normally choose for her (the friend who requested this story, his birthday is November 29), so that's what I went with.

I wanted Dina to express her backstory to Dick easily, showing just how deeply connected and drawn to him she feels.

I didn't want her to hear too much of Dick's backstory because that will be used in a different chapter later on.

I hope you like this chapter! I worked super hard on it, and am super proud of it!

Again, the same disclaimer; DC owns all but the plot and a few select characters. I'm sure you can pick out which ones! I trust you guys.

Enjoy!

WOBE


	16. Conversations

Dina was disappointed that the saying, "Time flies when you're having fun," really was saturated with truth. The time seemed to disappear as she spent the day with Dick, discussing a variety of topics ranging from politics and sports, to lighter subjects like schooling and personal preferences.

She discovered many interesting things about Dick, things that made her even more curious about him. She learned that he was a three-time Mathlete Champion at Gotham Academy, an only child, the adopted son of the one and only Bruce Wayne, and that despite his rigorous training regiment, he had an extremely high sweet tooth.

Dick shrugged as he took a bite out of his burrito in the gym's cafeteria.

"What can I say? Sugar is my nemesis,"

"I would never expect someone as disciplined as you would have such a simple weakness!" Dina laughed, unwrapping her own burrito and spreading some sour cream on top of the meat and cheese mixture.

"Don't let my Dad hear you say that!" he teased.

"Why?"

"Because. He claims that I'm never disciplined! That, and I talk too much," he explained, taking another bite out of his lunch.

"So what's your favorite sweet? Like, what do you have a secret stash of under you bed that only Alfred knows about and almost as secretly, supplies to you?" Dina asked.

"To be honest, any snack cakes. The ones with the marshmallow covered chocolate cake. And if it weren't already amazerrificly delicious enough, they add colored coconut to the outside and crème to the center! Marshmallow circus peanuts and anything gummy are also up there," he told her.

"Gummy sharks and gummy frogs. Those are soooooo good!"

Dick looked at her with an expression of admiration, Dina beginning to squirm under his gaze.

"What? What is it?" she asked, hoping she didn't have sour cream on her nose.

"There is no way around it. No I thought, 'there is no way that there is a perfect person in this world,' Obviously, I was wrong. No one can do gymnastics, enjoy gummy sharks _and_ frogs, and want to stick it to Barbara Gordon and _not_ be perfect! It's like, God himself made this happen!"

Dina couldn't help but blush and smile at the praise, pleased that he was so comfortable with her that he could just simply speak what was on his mind no matter what it was. It felt like they had known each other for years rather than just a day.

"Thanks for agreeing to have lunch with me," he said, interrupting his own current thread of conversation.

"Oh, no problem! Although I thought for sure that you would want to spend lunch with your teammates," she replied.

Dick sighed.

"Actually, I usually eat lunch alone. Unless my Dad comes to visit me. Then I eat with him,"

"What? You eat alone? That's so sad!"

Dick shrugged his shoulders again.

"It's really not all that bad. I mean, I don't really consider anyone at the academy to be a 'friend', but I'm used to having to do things alone. Almost everybody considers me to be a weirdo,"

If Dina were a normal person, she would have exclaimed how horrible that was and how she was going to go tell those few uppity academy students a thing or two!

But Dina wasn't a normal person. If anything, she knew exactly what Dick was talking about.

"You do?" Dick asked, looking surprised.

Dina looked up at him, realizing just then that she hadn't just thought the words but had said them out loud.

She slowly nodded.

"Yeah. Because I'm not 'normal' I kind of get ignored,"

"It's hard isn't it," he stated rather than asked.

Dina nodded again.

"But hey! What are we doing turning this into an overwhelming situation when we should just be chillaxing?" he asked. "We should be whelmed more than anything else!"

"You're right," she agreed with him, smiling at the boy sitting across from her.

They continued chatting as they finished up their lunch, laughing at the other's jokes and trying to stump each other with the most complicated questions they could think of.

"So, you want to have lunch together tomorrow too?" Dick asked her as they threw away their trash.

"I'd love to, but I kind of already had plans to eat with my team," she said, placing her plastic tray on top of the pile.

She instantly regretted her answer when she saw the light in Dick's eyes fall. Any other person wouldn't have noticed a difference. The boy had obviously been trained to control or at least cover up his emotions.

"Oh. Well that's ok," he replied, a hint of disappointment in his voice despite his posture not so much as twitching.

"You can join us if you want though. I'm sure they wouldn't mind," she offered, hoping that he would reply positively.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Sure I'm sure. We'd love to have you,"

"Then in that case, my answer is yes. I would be happy to join you and your teammates for lunch tomorrow,"

"Great!" she exclaimed, seeing the light return to the boy's eyes almost in an instant.

The two continued to converse while they waited the appropriate time for their food to digest before they continued their practice on the bars, sitting on the edge of the floor like they had earlier that day.

Dick went on and on about his father's company, telling Dina about the latest technology that they were going to produce as well as the advancements that they had made in the areas of medicine and child care. His hands gestured wildly as he spoke, every word bringing a new life to him as his excitement grew. Dina couldn't help but admire him, her chin resting in her hand as she watched him with rapt attention, a smile forming on her face.

He really was a very good-looking young man, there was no doubt about that, but he also had an amazing personality, a passion for people and places like she had never seen before in someone so young.

"…and that's why,"

Suddenly Dick went quiet, his voice ceasing in a very strange manner.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Dick put his hand up to silence her, jumping off of the raised platform they were sitting on and claimed, "I'll be back,"

Dina watched him as he left, a taller man coming to meet him, his dark hair almost the exact same shade as Dick's own hair. Her eyes grew wide instantly as she recognized the dark-haired man as Bruce Wayne, the most well-known man in all of Gotham City. The two discussed something that Dina was unable to make out due to the distance between the pair and herself.

Bruce put a hand on Dick's shoulder before he pulled him into an embrace, Dick returning it with vigor. They pulled apart for a moment before Bruce said something else to the boy, handing him something in the process. Dick accepted whatever it was, looking up at the man to ask him something else.

The man gave the boy a glare that was the definition behind "If looks could kill,", crossing his arms over his chest at the same time. She was certain that if you looked up the word "frightening" in a dictionary, a picture of Bruce Wayne scowling with his arms crossed would be next to it.

Dick's shoulders drooped at the look his father gave him, knowing that there would be no escape for him from what Bruce had said.

Bruce laid a comforting hand on Dick's shoulder for a split second before he removed it, his expression growing a little softer.

Dick turned back towards Dina, not as pleased as he had been when he had left her only a few minutes earlier.

"What was that all about?" she asked once Dick had rejoined her, reoccupying his spot.

"Hmm? Oh! He just wanted to congratulate me on my win yesterday,"

"What did he give you?" she asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Just my watch. I took it off yesterday and gave it to him when I was riding with the team in Bette's family's Suburban yesterday. I don't like wearing it around them. Harold always breaks it," he replied, starting to put the watch back on his wrist.

"Is that the new WIC 1500 series watch you were telling me about?" she asked, leaning forward to get a closer look at the technology.

Dick nodded. "Yeah. My Dad wanted me to try it our first because I am the most active person he knows. In fact, he said, and I quote, 'If it can survive you, then I know it can survive anyone's lifestyle,'. I climb a lot of trees,"

"What, really?"

"Yep," Dick replied, popping the 'p' at the end of the word.

The pair's conversation changed to their parents, Dina asking questions about Bruce and Dick likewise inquiring about Selina.

They were enjoying a moment of laughter after dick told a particularly hilarious story about a kitchen disaster they had at Wayne Manor causing their butler to faint from the mess incurred upon his counters, when they were interrupted by a certain redheaded girl.

"Hey! Circus Boy! Get over here!" Barbara yelled to the boy, her hand cupping her mouth.

"Great!" Dick muttered between his clenched teeth. "Why?" he called back to her.

"How should I know! Coach wants everyone in the back room!" she replied sarcastically.

"I gotta go. Apparently, they can't survive without my presence at every team meeting!" he said mockingly, causing Dina to chuckle as he stood and flipped off the platform.

"See you tomorrow?" he asked, looking up at her with hope in his eyes.

"Of course. Good luck tonight," she said, jumping down from the platform with ease.

"Luck? If anyone doesn't need luck on their side it's you and me!" he stated proudly, winking at her.

Dina's cheeks started to darken at the praise he so readily gave to her, tucking a strand of her ebony hair behind her ear nervously.

"I'll be cheering for you then,"

"Don't think I won't do the same!" he teased, giving her a quick hug before he bolted towards where the rest of his team was waiting for him impatiently.

"It's about time! What took you so long?" Bette asked him.

"I do have a life you know," he replied sternly.

"You? A life? Fat chance!" the blonde laughed sardonically.

Dick took a quick glance back and Dina and sent her a small wave, a smirk lighting up his face. He was able to see her wave back before he turned back around, none of his teammates able to see the interaction.

She headed back to the room she shared with Raquel and Irma to prepare for the next set of competitions.

She picked up her phone and plopped down on her bed, scanning through her emails and messages, looking for anything from her friends, family or a certain government agency alerting her to any leads on a specific computer expert.

There was a message from her Mom telling her how proud she was of her and how she couldn't wait to see her perform that night.

Wally and Artemis had sent her a group message informing her that they would both be over at her house to watch the competition with Selina, pumped beyond belief.

 _"Can anyone say popcorn?"_ Wally texted, two emojis of a corn cob and a popped popcorn kernel following the words. A picture had been sent as well, Wally holding up an absolutely gigantic bag of un-popped popcorn.

Dina laughed at his text, heading to her emails for any information Jason might have sent her. An alert sounded while she was in the app, letting her know that she had just received a new email. She clicked on the message labeled "Jason", and read through the words that had been typed. And then she read them again.

"Your boy seems as inactive as you are. No contact whatsoever,"

Dina threw herself back onto her bed, her head filled with a million questions. The one that seemed to wedge itself into the forefront of her psyche was more puzzling than the enigma that was Richard Grayson.

 _"Where are you Robin? And what could you possibly be up to?"_

* * *

Yes, it is yet another chapter! I really have been on a roll with these, the ideas just coming to me like *snaps fingers* that! I enjoy writing this so much an appreciate all of the feedback! I hope I am doing better on my spell-check and sentence formation. A lot of what and how I write is based on how normal teenagers speak, so that's why there are a lot of gonna's, wanna's, and the like.

I hope you guys are still liking this story and where it's going. I feel like due to Dick and Dina's similarities they have a greater and faster connection, something that I know can happen because I have experienced it personally.

I don't own Suburban. Or Chevy.

Also, I wanted Dick to like sweets because it just seems like something that he would like. I mean, he's always super happy-go-lucky and energetic, it only makes sense that he would enjoy downing a few Twinkies! (yes, I will make a connection later!) Snack cakes and gummy candy are MY sugar weaknesses, so I simply transferred them to being Dick's favorites!

Also, can you figure out what snack cake Dick was describing? Kudos to you if you can!

I made Barbara more like the version from the first season of Young Justice. Remember how rude she was to Dick and how Bette was pretty nasty with saying, "ignore him,"? Well, that's my basis for their attitudes. I might mellow them out a bit later on, but right now they are gonna stay rather mean.

Another thing, is that everyone knows Dick Grayson's backstory on the gymnastics team because Bette found out and she's a blab. Therefore, everyone (mainly Barbara though) started to refer to him as "Circus Boy" because of it. Hope all of that makes sense!

Anyhoo, super proud of this chapter! And the interaction with Dick and Bruce changed several times, but I think I got it where I want it!

Enjoy!

And keep being awesome sauce guys!

WOBE


	17. Gold

Dina's nerves were getting to her. She could feel it as she came out into the arena that night, the flashing lights of the cameras and the cheers from the crowd causing her to feel very intimidated.

This wasn't just some small-town competition for junior athletes; this was the big time. And everything she did here would either elevate her or bury her; deep.

She was so distracted, that she almost missed the coach's speech.

Raquel elbowed her back to planet earth, bringing her down from the sudden terror that she felt by the smallest of margins.

"Alright, the line-up for today is pretty similar to yesterday. Kaldur will be first to go on the horizontal bar in ninth position. Then Raquel goes on vault in nineteenth and Roy follows her on vault in eleventh. Dina, you'll be in seventeenth on the uneven bars and finally, Roy brings up the rear with parallel bars in fifth. I want you all to go out there and give it your all!"

The group nodded before shouting out, "One, two, three, LYNXES!" their hands flying into the air as they let loose their battle cry.

"Good afternoon everyone, and welcome back to the Neoplex Arena! Your center for this year's New York Gymnastics Championship! I'm your host Walter Greeves, bringing you all the action! Tonight, we have a tremendous schedule for you, starting with men's horizontal bar! This is a chance for everyone who wasn't able to make it into a medal position to seize something shiny. Now, without further ado, let the games begin!"

The crowd cheered as the announcer's speech ending, filling them with excitement for the tournament; and filling Dina with even more nervousness.

Kaldur watched his opponents as they did their routines on the horizontal bar, examining their errors as well as moments of success, determining what he should watch out for in his own routine. The judges seemed to be particularly selective tonight, taking away points for even the most minor of offenses.

"You got this Kaldur," she heard Roy say to the dark-skinned boy, clapping him on the shoulder.

"thank you. I will do my best to represent our team," he replied, smiling at all of his teammates.

"Go get 'em," Dina said, snapping out of her own nervousness to cheer on the boy. He was after all, going first from their group again.

He thanked the black-haired teen before he heard his name announced and he approached the horizontal bar, preparing to jump from the trampoline just like his opponent before him.

His entire team silently cheered him on, knowing that Kaldur prized silence over any kind of praise at the moment. Where he would have normally changed direction, he didn't choosing to instead do a more complicated release. He did two more rotations on the bar, speeding up before he finally let go, flipping through the air and landing with the smallest of hops.

The team waited patiently, all of the surprised by what the voice said.

"16.411," the robotic female voice said over the loudspeaker, the electronic board automatically putting Kaldur into second place, something that he had not expected by any means.

"Way to go, Kal!" Raquel told the boy, putting a hand on his arm.

Kaldur returned her gesture with a smile.

"Why, thank you. I am actually surprised I did so well. I was certain I would be placed much lower for that mistake on my landing. Still, I am nothing but genuinely pleased with my performance and whether I medal or not, I will still stand by how and what I did," he replied.

His teammates were always amazed at the wisdom that the eighteen-year-old possessed, his knowledge and understanding far exceeding the years that he had lived.

"That's the spirit, Kal!" Coach Curry said, clapping the dark-skinned teen on the shoulder, Kaldur directing a smile towards his mentor.

They watched the rest of the horizontal bar competition, a seventeen-year-old redhead from Cheatham-Marshall Academy winning the gold.

"What an exciting first round folks! The bronze going to Gotham City High School, the silver to Thomas Jefferson High School, and Cheatham-Marshall Academy taking first place and the gold! Stay right here with us for all the action to come! Up next will be the woman's vault and you certainly won't want to miss it!" the exuberant announcer exclaimed excitedly.

Everyone congratulated the dark-skinned teen for his bronze, exuberant that one of their team members had been able to get two medals. It didn't matter to anyone that they were only bronze, they were still medals.

"You can do it Raquel!" Dina said to the girl as she made her way across to where the girls were lining up to do the vault. Raquel waved back to the blue-eyed girl as she jogged to get into her position in line.

Dina waited nervously as she watched the line inch closer and closer to her teammate, the dark-skinned girl obviously keeping her nerves under control. Dina wished she could be as calm as her African-American friend. Every minute seemed to drag on, each girl going in what felt like slow motion to Dina as she chewed her nails in anticipation.

"I thought you quit chewing your nails?" Irma asked her, raising an eyebrow at the fifteen-year-old's bad habit resurfacing.

"I did," Dina replied, still absentmindedly nibbling on her thumb's nail.

Finally, after what seemed like years, it was Raquel's turn to go.

Dina inched forward until she was literally sitting on the edge of her seat, gazing with anticipation at her friend as she put chalk on her hands.

Raquel prepared herself, putting her hands out in front of her. She visibly took a deep breath before she snapped her eyes open and ran forward, a sudden burst of speed coming from the girl as she bolted down the mat runway. It was over in only a few moments, but that didn't mean Dina didn't see every detailed move of Raquel's performance. As soon as she had finished, Dina jumped out of her seat and began clapping, her teammates quickly following. Roy whistled through his fingers, congratulating Raquel in a way that only he could.

The girl beamed at the crowd and waved at her friends, obviously pleased with how she had performed. I mean, who wouldn't be with a landing as perfect as her's was?

She ran over to her teammates only to be bombarded with a group hug, smiling uncontrollably as she was enveloped in the embrace.

"You were amazing!" Irma praised her, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Thank you! I can't believe I actually made that landing!" Raquel said, her cheeks red and her breathing slightly labored from all the exertion she had just experienced only a few minutes earlier.

"The scores for Raquel Ervin of Gotham City High School,"

"This is it," Kaldur whispered, holding the girl close to his side.

Every member of the team seemed to have their fingers crossed as they waited for the results.

"16.782,"

None of them could hear what was going on around them, their excitement was far too loud for anything to penetrate as they celebrated.

"Second place! And that's the best score you've ever gotten for vault! Like, in the history of ever!" Irma claimed, yelling to try and be heard over the chaos that was the Gotham City High School gymnastics team.

"I know! I can't believe it!" Raquel said, almost tearing up on the spot at the happiness of the moment.

However, happiness doesn't always last.

There were only five more gymnasts on the vault and Dina was crossing her fingers every time one of them performed.

The brunette from North Oswago High School surprised everyone with her stellar performance which rocketed her into first place and therefore dumped Raquel down into third.

Raquel wasn't at all upset with the fact, knowing that the girl had been struggling with her vault ever since yesterday, never once being able to get a good landing despite her best efforts.

"She deserves it," the African-American said as she watched the last three gymnasts.

Dina's nerves tightened and a shiver ran down her spine as she saw a familiar redhead make her way towards the vault.

Raquel was on the bubble, and the only possible person who could force her to not receive a medal was about to go next.

Barbara Gordon waved to the cheering crowd, a smile plastered on her face as she prepared herself for her vault.

It was by no means flawless, but that didn't mean it wasn't good or even good enough to beat Raquel's score and earn her at least the bronze.

Dina continued to cross her fingers as they awaited the scores for the redhead who was currently waving to the people in the crowd. Dina noticed that Dick seemed about as disinterested as he could be, doing something on his black and blue smartphone instead of paying attention to Barbara like everyone else on her team was.

"The scores for Barbara Gordon of Gotham Academy,"

It was fair to say that no one on the Gotham City High team expected what came next. Nor could they have been prepared for the disappointment that would follow.

"16.899,"

The entire group stared at the electronic scoreboard in horror as Raquel's score seemed to be moved in slow motion down from third place and into fourth as the name Barbara Gordon suddenly appeared in first.

"There is no way she should have gotten a score that high! Her spins were nowhere near as complex and advanced as Raquel's were!" Irma cried, leaping out of her seat. "This is ludicrous!"

"That's Gotham Academy for you. Everyone that goes to that school has connections," Roy grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"But that's not fair! Raquel earned that bronze medal! She worked her tail off and she has nothing to show for it!" Irma protested.

"I know it's not fair Irma, but life isn't about fairness. It's about rising above the adversities placed against you whether they should be there or not," Kaldur told the blonde girl as Raquel hugged the dark-skinned boy's arm close.

"And that wraps up the women's vault, with the bronze going to Fletcher Academy, the silver to North Oswago High School, and Gotham Academy taking home the gold! Stick around for men's vault coming up next!" Walter said over the loudspeaker, clearing enjoying the competition.

"Wish me luck guys," Roy said as he gave Kaldur a bro hug and high-fived the girls. Dina watched the redhead's form as he made his way towards the line for men's vault. Then she noticed the boy who lined up behind him.

"Dick," she breathed out, the black-haired teen striking up a conversation with the surly senior in front of him. Somehow, he was able to get Roy to smile and speak to him despite the fact that he was from Gotham Academy, a school that Roy obviously had a beef with.

Dina paid more attention to the two boys than she did to the guys who were vaulting, watching as they slowly got closer and closer to their turns on the vault.

Roy shook the boy's hand just before he went on, telling him what looked like, "Good luck,"

It was very clear that Roy was not happy with his performance as he returned to his seat, a scowl pressed onto his face.

"I can't believe I did such a rotten job," he muttered as he slumped into his seat, the robotic voice announcing his score to be, "15.661,"

He perked up however when he noticed that Richard was going, watching with rapt attention as the boy vaulted, going higher than anyone else had so far.

Roy stood and clapped once he landed, smiling and waving at the crowd with a pleasant smile on his face.

"I thought you couldn't stand Gotham Academy," Dina said, confused by Roy's sudden change in behavior.

"I wouldn't mind losing to that kid any day. I've seen him perform, but I've never actually met him until he introduced himself to me tonight. I'm telling you right now Dina, that boy is a different breed all-together,"

Dina looked at Dick as he returned to his seat, smiling the entire way.

"The scores for Richard Grayson-Wayne of Gotham Academy,"

She also noticed that he was the only one who celebrated when his scores were announced, his teammates simply clapping half-heartedly or softly.

"16.919,"

" _No wonder he reaches out to everyone he meets. He doesn't get any support from his own team,"_ Dina thought as she continued to watch the boy.

She wasn't even paying attention when Walter Reeves announced the winners for the men's vault.

"And the bronze goes to Lester Michaels High School, the silver to Thomas Jefferson High School, and Gotham Academy takes home yet another gold! Next is uneven beams and I guarantee you will be amazed at the moves these young ladies can pull off!"

Dina distractedly prepared herself for the uneven bars, stretching out a little before she sat and waited for her turn since she would be closer to the end. She observed her opponents nervously as she sat, tapping her foot absentmindedly. Her nerves continued to build as each girl went, each one seemingly better than the last.

The blood in her veins froze as she saw the girl was supposed to go before her step onto the stage, blowing kisses out to her adoring fans in the crowd.

Barbara Gordon.

She slowly slipped into despair as she watched the redheaded Gotham Academy student do complex flip after difficult release, after fantastic switch. Each move looked like perfection to the black-haired girl who started to sink into her seat. There was no way she could compete with something like that! Something perfect!

"It's your turn Dina," Raquel informed her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I can't do this Raquel! I'll fail miserably!" she whined, watching as Barbara's name was placed into first on the scoreboard with an outrageously high score of 16.852.

"Yes you can. You can do anything that you put your mind to, and you have always had a mind to excel. You gonna rock this competition and your going to knock the judges socks off. I can just feel it,"

"But what if I don't? What then?"

"You'll still be one of the best gymnasts I know. And more importantly you'll still be a member of this team and my good friend,"

"Thanks Raquel," Dina said, hugging the girl.

"You're welcome. Now go knock 'em dead!"

Dina quickly made her way to the uneven bars, taking a deep breath in as she looked up at said apparatus. This was it. She was about to compete big time.

 _"No room for fear when you're having fun,"_ she thought, remembering the words her father would always tell her when she would mess up.

" _Just have fun,"_

She stole a quick glance over at the Gotham Academy team, Barbara's teammates congratulating her as if she had already won.

 _"Not if I can help it,"_ Dina thought to herself, stealing her nerves.

She noticed that Dick was watching her, his hands folded in front of him and his fingers crossed.

She smiled at that, knowing that it was now or never.

Once she mounted the uneven bars, it was like every amount of energy she had, she had preserved for this very moment, each turn feeling natural and every release executed with as much skill as she had in her.

The crowd began to cheer her on, clapping and every so often, someone would call out her name. Her adrenaline began to build up, her arms getting stronger rather than weaker and her will becoming rock hard. She was determined to do her best and if she could get a medal in the process, that would simply be a bonus.

She went into her final turn, not thinking about how she was going to end her routine, simply knowing that she was going to have fun while she did it.

As she released her hands from the bars for the final time and twisted through the air, she smiled. Whatever the score she received, she would know that she had earned it; and that was something she couldn't help but be proud of.

As her feet hit the mat, the entire crowd broke out into cheers, whistling and the chanting of her name could also be heard from the little corner that could only be the students of Gotham City High.

Dina smiled and waved at her fans, her expression nothing but pure ecstasy upon having finished strong.

She didn't even make it to her teammates as they ran out to greet her, pulling her into a suffocating embrace. She couldn't help but laugh as the group that surrounded her began to praise her and her performance.

"The scores for Sarina Trieson of Gotham City High School,"

"Shhh! We want to hear this guys!" Raquel shushed the group, causing them all to turn their attention to the electronic board.

The anticipation was practically killing Dina as she stood and waited, her teammates barely breathing.

"16.902,"

Pandemonium broke out in an instant, but Dina couldn't move. She stood, staring at the score with an open mouth as the realization that she had just taken first place sunk into her brain.

"Dina, you're in first!" Irma exclaimed excitedly, enveloping the black-haired girl in a bear hug.

Dina wasn't able to snap out of her trance the rest of the event. In fact, it only got worse as each girl came and went, none of them passing her score.

Once it was confirmed, the entire team broke out into another round of hugging, this time including jumping up and down in excitement to their ensemble.

"Dina! Don't you realize what you've just done? Not only did you win gold, but you beat Gotham Academy!" Raquel squealed with delight.

Dina suddenly snapped out of the trance that she had been in, looking around at the cheering crowd, then the scoreboard and finally landing on a certain fifteen-year-old. Who just so happened to be celebrating as well, his smile spreading from one ear to the other.

He ceased his celebratory excitement not when his teammates looked at him strangely, Bette trying to comfort a crying Barbara, but when he noticed that the new gold medalist was looking at him.

His smile grew softer and he waved, mouthing the words "You did it,", hoping that she would see them.

She did.

And she couldn't help but smile back.

"What an amazing turn of events her with the uneven bars! I've never seen anything so amazing in all my life! Never in all my years of broadcasting have I seen such an underdog story! That means that the bronze will go to Thomas Jefferson High, the silver to Gotham Academy, and for the first time ever, Gotham City High School will be taking home a well-earned gold! Sarina Trieson. Remember that name folks, because she just made history!"

* * *

I was finally able to figure out how to put the line partitions into the stories! Took me long enough! Lol! Anyhoo, I am sooooooooo excited about this chapter! I wanted to put a little competition between Dina and Barbara because I thought it might add to the story.

I really hope that all of you enjoy this story. I love to write it, and I appreciate that you all love it so much! It really encourages me because at first I wasn't certain about writing this story, but my friend encouraged me, and wanted to see what I could do with this. So, this is not only for all of you, but for him as well! Hope you continue to read and enjoy!

WOBE


	18. Friendship

The ceremony had seemed to go by in a blur, Dina waiting in line for her turn on top of the podium one minute and gazing down in a befuddles manner at the shiny medal hanging around her neck the next.

She had received many a congratulation from different gymnasts and coaches.

She had returned to her room that night sore all over; however, it wasn't for any of the reasons that most people would have assumed.

Her cheeks were sore from being unable to cease smiling, her hands were aching from the thousands – or at least, what seemed like thousands – of hands that she had shook, and her legs were killing her from all the standing she had been doing for the past few hours.

She had just barely been able to make it through the celebration that her friends and teammates had thrown for her, the sticky-sweet scent of soft serve and waffle cones still filling her nostrils. Her senses were blurred as her feet gradually carried her to her bed where she gladly collapsed onto the soft mattress, sighing happily as she cuddled her pillow between her arms. She hadn't even bothered to change out of her purple and green sleeveless leotard and gym shorts, fatigue settling into her very bones and causing slumber to overtake her in mere moments.

She awoke the next morning refreshed, stretching her arms above her head and feeling the ache of the previous evening begin to settle into her muscles. She removed the gold medal from around her neck, surprised that she had fallen asleep with it, placing it on the bedside table.

She rolled her shoulders experimentally before she headed for the on-suite bathroom, looking around the room to see that neither Irma or Raquel were present. Dina shrugged her shoulders, figuring that they were most likely at breakfast. She took a quick shower, ridding her body of the dried sweat and cramped muscles from the previous night.

She changed into her team leotard, sporting the red and black of their school, pulling on a pair of noisy, black gym pants over the one piece.

She combed out her wet hair and put it up in a haphazard bun, securing it with several bobby pins.

She looked herself over quick and nodded in approval, sliding on her purple converse and heading off towards the cafeteria for some sugary cereal that her mom would never allow her to put in the cupboards at home.

She had barely arrived in the large room when her friends waved at her, calling her over to the table they had reserved, an empty seat set aside especially for her.

Dina smiled and returned their wave, greeting all of them as she sat down in her seat.

"How'd you sleep?" Irma asked her, spooning some eggs into her mouth.

"Really well. I was exhausted!" she replied, reaching across the table for the pitcher of milk and a glass, pouring the white liquid into the plastic cup.

"I bet! I was exhausted and I didn't even _do_ anything!" Irma said, causing the entire table to erupt into peals of laughter.

"Have we gotten the schedule for the team events yet?" Dina asked, taking a sip of her milk. The cold liquid felt so good as it went down her throat, that she lengthened her sip to a chug.

Roy shook his head.

"Not yet. Coach said that we should get it by eleven o'clock today. Raquel got you cereal," the redhead added as a side note, sliding a white, glass bowl full of Cocoa Puffs across the table to her.

"I figured you could use a pick-me-up after the night you had," Raquel told her, Dina smiling and thanking the dark-skinned girl.

"No problem!" she replied, the group continuing to eat their separate breakfasts.

They settled into a comfortable conversation, discussing different subjects and bringing up topics periodically.

Dina had just finished laughing at one of Roy's ridiculous jokes, when she noticed a familiar figure from the corner of her eye.

Dick stood gazing at the menu, his arms crossed over his chest. He was wearing his team uniform as well, a navy blue and yellow sleeveless shirt that molded perfectly to his frame and blue gym pants with the Gotham Academy insignia embossed on the leg.

She wondered what he could possibly be thinking about, when a sudden blur rushed behind the teenager, forcing him forward slightly, his breath instantly stolen from his lungs at the impact.

"Jason!" Dick whined, doing his best to regain his lost breath, his hand on his chest to steady himself.

"I told you not to sneak up on me from behind!" he reprimanded the blur who turned out to be a young boy.

"Sorry D.J!" the boy giggled, hugging Dick even tighter.

Dina examined the younger boy, thinking that he could be any older than ten-years-old, his black hair almost the same shade as Dick's.

"Either you're getting better Jason, or your brother is slacking off in his studies,"

Dick turned his head towards the sound of the voice, his smile turning into a serious expression instantly once he had seen who had spoken.

"Father," Dick replied, acknowledging the older man with a nod.

"Richard," Bruce said in turn.

"Tell me you got more than four hours of sleep last night," he said, more in the form of a statement than a question.

"As a matter of fact, I got eight hours of sleep last night," Dick said proudly, a smirk lighting up his face.

"The only way that would have happened, is if Harold fell asleep first so you were forced to go to bed,"

"That's not his name," Dick mumbled, crossing his arms and looking away from his father, the smile on his face instantly disappearing.

Dina was pulled back to the conversation when Irma asked her if she was planning on practicing on the balance beam.

"You need to work on your dismounts," the blonde told her as she wiped her mouth with her white paper napkin.

"Actually, I was planning on practicing with the floor first. My routine could use a little refreshing since I haven't done it in a while," Dina replied, taking a bite of her cereal and relishing in the wonderful taste of chocolate and milk mixed together on her tongue.

"That sounds like a good plan,"

Silence fell over the group as they watched Dina's gaze travel back towards the trio she had been watching so closely a moment earlier.

"Is something bothering you Dina?" Raquel asked her.

"What?" Dina asked, whipping her head around to face her friend.

"Yeah. What are you looking at?" Roy asked, peering over her head to try and see what his teammate had been so interested in.

"It's that boy from Gotham Academy! That Richard kid!" Irma whispered far too loudly for it to actually be considered a whisper.

"Did you see how many more medals he won last night? I mean, the guy got two more golds! He's probably the best competitor this year!" Raquel replied, keeping her voice lower than that of the blonde sitting beside her.

"And to think the boy is just that; a boy. Sixteen is quite young to be so significantly talented in the art of gymnastics," Kaldur added his own opinion to the conversation, watching the volume of his voice as well.

"Oh he's not even that old," Dina said offhandedly, her gaze returning to the boy and his family as they sat down at a table behind the table her and her teammates were currently occupying.

"What do you mean he's not that old? How old is he?" Irma asked.

"Fifteen," Dina replied, resting her chin in her hand.

"Fifteen!" Irma exclaimed, her teammates all urging her to be quite with simultaneous "Shhhh!"s.

Irma shrunk back, apologizing for her loud volume, before she repeated the word in a softer tone.

"Fifteen! There's no way someone as talented as him is only fifteen!"

"Wha- did you say something?" Dina asked, turning back towards her friends.

All four people blinked at the girl.

"I have no words,"

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

"You must _really_ be out of it!"

Three of her fellow gymnasts said at the same time, their words getting mixed up in each other.

The five quickly finished up their breakfast, gradually continuing their chatter from earlier, Dina trailing slightly behind them.

Raquel noticed this and silently decided to stay back, waiting for her friend to catch up to where she was.

"So, you wanna tell me what's going on?" she asked, startling the black-haired teen out of her thoughts.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You haven't been yourself this morning. At least, not since you laid eyes on that gymnast from Gotham Academy,"

Dina sighed, not really knowing how to respond.

"You like him that much huh?" Raquel asked, a knowing smile creeping its way across her face.

"What? No!" Dina replied quickly, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Then what? What's going on?"

"I just, *sigh*. He understands me and I understand him. We have a lot in common and we've gone through similar situations in our lives. He's not even accepted at his school because people think he's weird,"

Dina sighed again.

"It's nice to have a friend who understands you,"

"I know it is," Raquel said, wrapping her arm around the other girl's shoulders.

"So when are we gonn invite him to come at sit with us?"

"What? Really?!" Dina asked, perking up.

"Of course. I'll talk to Kaldur and he'll make sure that everyone's on board. If the boy isn't accepted by his own classmates then we'll make sure he's welcome among us. No one should have to be alone,"

"I was hoping to ask all of you this morning at breakfast if he could join us for lunch today, but I guess I got a little distracted,"

"It's fine," Raquel said, making a dismissive gesture with her hand.

"Besides, he looks _good_ in that uniform of his!" she teased, winking at her friend.

Dina spluttered, trying to regain composure after what the dark-skinned girl had just implied.

"Ra-Raquel!" she stuttered, her face growing more flustered by the second.

"Sorry! I think I hear coach calling! Better go!" she called, running forward.

It took Dina a second to realize that she was now alone, watching the back of her quickly-retreating friend.

"Hey! Get back here!" she squealed, running after the girl who seemed to be laughing uncontrollably at what she had just been able to pull off.

The problem was, that Dina knew Raquel was absolutely right in her observation;

Richard Grayson did look _good_ in a gymnast's uniform.

Sorry it's been so crazy long since my last update! Final exams just finished and I had to focus all of my attention on them! I hope this chapter is alright! I wanted to write something fast, something that brought in Jason and brought about the beginnings of Dina's friends meeting Dick and starting on their journey of accepting him as a person.

* * *

I hope you all know that I am not giving up on this story! It is my baby right now, and I will take care of it as best as I can! Just be patient with me! That's all I ask! That, and that you continue to read, review, and favorite!

Enjoy this chappie you Awesome Sauce readers!

WOBE


	19. Fear

Dina had been so pleased that her whole team was behind her suggestion to invite the outcast member of the Gotham Academy team, Roy deciding to take the lead on the matter since he was the oldest of the group.

"Height also adds intimidation. I've seen that kid. He's nothing I can't handle," Roy had said proudly as the team made their way towards the cafeteria for the mid-day meal.

"Roy, when you said you would ask him to come sit with us at lunch, that means that you actually _ask_. You don't go up to him and say, 'You. Sit with us,'." Raquel said, imitating the redheaded Senior's deeper voice, causing a series of snorts and muffled giggles to come from the rest of the team members.

"I was gonna ask! I'm not a barbarian!" he muttered indignantly, crossing him arms over his chest and sending a sour expression in the direction of the dark-skinned girl.

Raquel replied with a forced innocent smile, doing her best not to incur the wrath of the taller boy.

"It was good of you to reach out to the young man. His grief at being forgotten is well-hidden, but nonetheless quite perceivable to the trained eye," Kaldur said, his words affirmed by nodding from his fellow gymnasts. "You are a compassionate and honorable soul Sarina Trieson. It gives me pride to know you,"

Dina blushed at his praise, rubbing her arm nervously as she thanked Kal for his compliment.

As they grew closer to the cafeteria, the chatter of teenagers started to become more decipherable. Once Roy had opened one of the double doors, the sound had grown in volume significantly. All the teams were sitting together amiably conversing over different topics that none of the newcomers could interpret.

Dina scanned the room as quickly as she could, examining every person she could find that resembled her target in any way. Irma informed the dark-haired girl that they were going to find a table and that once Richard had been located, they could come sit with the rest of them.

Dina nodded her reply, returning her gaze to the perimeter of the room.

Almost as soon as she was about to give up, her spirit crushed, a splash of blue entering through the door on the other side of the room caught her eye.

Her heart leapt in her chest, skipping a beat while her blue eyes grew larger.

He had been late.

Dina took a deep breath to calm her nerves as she began the trek towards the black-haired boy.

" _You got this Dina. Just, breathe,"_ she told herself, getting closer to her desired destination with every step she took.

In an instant though, her nervousness turned to panic as she suddenly felt the rush of wind past her ears and realized that the floor was getting closer.

* * *

Barbara had not slept well that night and despite the large amount of concealer that she had attempted to apply under her eyes that morning, the dark bags under them could still be seen. That pathetic Gotham City High girl had stolen her gold away from her hands, leaving her to flail around in an attempt to grasp for the silver which she had done flawlessly. No one else had even come close to her score, but out of nowhere – literally – there appeared this nobody little girl who _thought_ she was a _real_ gymnast.

 _"Well she's going to see what a real gymnast looks like tonight,"_ the redhead thought to herself as she sulked in her chair, glaring at the grilled chicken salad that sat in front of her, seemingly mocking her for her performance the previous night.

She pushed away the bowl, sticking up her nose at the food that would usually please her to no end. As if her mind had conjured her up, the subject of her mind's restlessness and her lost appetite came into view, her feet clearly walking towards an intended point. Her careful, calculating steps leading her in the direction of – Barbara didn't want to believe it to be true – Dick.

There was no way that this pathetic girl would dare threaten one of the Gotham Academy students! They were at the top of the gymnastics world when it came to juniors. But then again, this floozy, had never once shown any signs of hostility towards the adopted boy. In fact, if this girl had wanted to threaten anyone of the team members, it would be her; she had been the one who seemed to get the black-haired teenager all riled up. So why would she want approach Dick? It wasn't like he was anything special anyways. He was just the adopted brat of Bruce Wayne, a man that had simply taken pity on the circus-boy.

Immediately, her eyes widened as an idea presented itself to her.

She noticed that this girl's path was a straight line and that in order for her to get to her destination in question, she would need to pass Barbara and her team's table; but more specifically, right where Barbara herself was currently sitting.

A smirk spread across the redhead's face as a plan began to form in her mind, each step made bringing the gold-medal imp closer to her demise; or more precisely, Barbara's foot.

And as soon as she checked her surroundings, appreciating that her teammates were still engrossed in their conversation, she made her move.

* * *

Dick sighed as he stood, staring at the breakfast menu, his brain really unable to agree with his stomach on anything. He wasn't really in the mood for anything that the cafeteria could provide. No, he didn't want anything that could be purchased in a restaurant. He was craving a certain man's cheddar cheese, black olive, bacon, and spinach omelet, a heaping side of bacon placed on a separate place due to the sheer size of it, and a tall glass of fresh apple juice sparkling under the kitchen lights, condensation slowly sliding down the side as the ice cubes cracked and clanked against the clear glass. He wondered what Bruce's reaction would be if he used the emergency number that linked him directly to the Batcave to call Alfred and inform him of his current predicament.

 _"What have I told you? An_ _ **emergency**_ _line is labeled that way because it is meant for_ _ **emergencies**_ _Dick!"_

Dick chuckled as the scenario played over in his mind. Oh, he knew how Bruce would react all right! Just like he did every other time that the fifteen-year-old had attempted that particular stunt.

He continued to stare at the board, tapping his chin as he tried to decide on something that could at least satisfy his hunger – since he wouldn't be allowed to satisfy his cravings – and fulfill at least three basic food groups. He needed to keep up good shape even if he was taking a break from his – "nightly activities".

He turned around when he felt a wad of wet paper make impact to the back of his neck, pulling it from his skin and flicking it towards one of the Hillview High School boys who was too slow to hide his white bendy straw under the table.

"Hey!" the boy screeched in protest, picking the paper from his cheek and eliciting laughter from all of those sitting at his table.

Dick smirked, the corner of his lips rising slightly at the trick he had just pulled. Sometimes it paid to be the apprentice of a billionaire; karate lessons provided quite an extensive amount of reflexive training.

Dick's attention was quickly turned away from the Hillview team however when he noticed a certain dark-haired girl making her way towards him.

His smile softened as it spread, his feet involuntarily carrying him to meet her.

And then, everything changed.

His bright blue eyes widened as he saw the girl falling towards the ground as if in slow motion.

He also saw the reason for her sudden disaster.

And it made his blood boil.

* * *

Dina closed her eyes, preparing for impact – but it never came.

Instead, she felt a pair of strong arms catch her own, preventing her from making contact with the ground.

She slowly opened her eyes, looking down at a set of tanned hands, the muscles constricting from the awkward position. She gradually raised her eyes until they were staring into a pair of brilliant blue irises, the owner offering her a crooked smile.

"You ok?" Dick asked her, trying not to startle her.

She nodded.

"Ye-" she cleared her throat. "Yes. I'm fine,"

Dick nodded and helped her get to her feet, which couldn't seem to function properly, causing her to tumble forward, the boy before her catching her yet again. Her hands landed on his chest as she braced herself, a blush creeping across her cheeks at the feel of the muscles under her palms. He really hid himself well, even under skin tight clothes!

"Woah there!" he teased her, as he wrapped his fingers around her biceps, trying to give her feet the opportunity to anchor themselves properly.

Dina was able to regain her footing easily, wanting to get out of the uncomfortable position that she was currently in with Dick; in front of the entire cafeteria.

She brushed off imaginary dirt from the knees of her gym pants, before she turned her attention back to Dick.

"Is there any chance that I could talk to you? In private?" she asked him, whispering so that he was the only one who would receive her message.

He nodded.

Dina led the way, turning around and leading the boy towards her teammates table.

Dick sent daggers towards Barbara with his eyes, his teeth gritting behind his closed lips.

She hadn't noticed him at all.

"What's up?" Dick asked once they were a safe enough distance away from his teammates and the place of Dina' unfortunate 'incident'.

Dina turned to face the boy, her cheeks starting to heat up again as she stared up into his crystalline eyes, wringing her hands anxiously as she mentally prepared herself for what she was about to say.

"I wanted to ask you if you would like to sit with us; my teammates and I that is. I notice that you tend to sit by yourself, and I was hoping that perhaps you would enjoy not having to eat alone for once. If you don't want to I completely understand because,"

"I'd love to,"

"sometimes people just choose to be alone, and if you prefer to eat by yourself then I most certainly will not stop you from doing so,"

"I'd love to," Dick tried again, failing when Dina continued to speak, not hearing any of his words.

"because I respect you and your boundaries. But just know that if you ever want to eat with anyone else, that the offer is still on the table and always will be. So, what do you say?" she asked, continuing to nervously wring her hands together.

Dick chuckled.

"What's so funny?" she asked, starting to put her defenses up.

"Nothing! It's just that I already said that I would love to join you and your team," he told her.

"You did?" she asked, her hands dropping slightly.

Dick nodded.

"Twice," he said, holding up a pair of fingers.

"Twice?" she questioned, even more embarrassed than before.

Dick nodded again, smiling warmly at her.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I tend to get in this pattern where I talk and talk and talk, and I never let anyone else get a word in edgewise, and it drives people crazy! Especially my teachers. Oh, I sound like such an idiot don't I!" she exclaimed exasperatedly, hiding her face in her hands and shaking her head.

"Hey, it's fine! I used to be the same way! Annoyed my Dad to no end!" he said.

Dina peered from between her fingers.

"Really?" she asked, hope in her voice.

Dick nodded for a third time. He would have to crack his neck after today.

"Yep. I still talk a little too much sometimes, but that's usually on purpose to annoy someone or I get excited or nervous about something,"

Dick looked up slightly as if he were thinking for a moment.

Dina slowly began to remove her hands from her face, her eyebrows skewed as she watched the boy.

"Or when I'm scared," he added to the list.

"Or when I'm talking about a subject I'm passionate about,"

He thought some more, snapping his fingers as he thought of yet another thing.

"Or in math class,"

Dina giggled at his actions, trying to stifle the laughter that was about to come through.

"Anyway, I'll probably think of more later – when I'm on vacations – so you might want to introduce me to your friends while you still have the chance. When I'm watching a movie where I've memorized all of the lines,"

Dina smiled at him and led him towards her group of friends, dragging him by the hand.

Now it was his turn to blush.

* * *

Barbara let out a groan as she realized that she had forgotten her hand guards in her room instead of placing them in her duffle bag.

"Ugh! Forgot my guards again! You guys go ahead I'll catch up," she informed her teammates, beginning to turn around.

"Are you sure?" Bette asked her, cupping her mouth so that Barbara could hear her better.

The redhead made a dismissive gesture behind her back with her hand that clearly stated, "Yeah it's fine, go,"

Bette shrugged her shoulders as she looked at her other teammate, the pair of girls continuing on their way.

Meanwhile, Barbara kept her path, picking up her pace once she gazed down at her watch.

"If I don't hurry up, coach will have a conniption!" she said to herself, trying to find her door's number even from so far away.

Without warning, the lights from overhead started to flicker, before eventually going out, leaving the redheaded girl alone in the darkness of the hallway.

"Great. Just my luck," she muttered under her breath.

The sound of rustling fabric startled her, causing her to whip around, her eyes wide upon realizing that she wasn't alone after all.

"Who's there?" she asked, trying not to stutter.

When there was no answer, she started on her way again, feeling for the wall so she could follow that down the hall.

She heard another rustle, her ears perked and her senses on high alert.

"I'll have you know, I'm a world famous professional level gymnast! If you hurt me, you will be in big trouble!" she warned.

"Oh, I'm so scared!" a voice said mockingly, chuckling at the sight of the girl jump in the darkness.

"Who are you?" Barbara demanded.

"Just a shadow. A shadow who's been watching you. Barbara Gordon,"

"How do you know my name?" she asked, desperately seeking some answers.

"What was it just said? Oh that's right! 'I'm a world famous professional level gymnast! If you hurt me, you will be in big trouble!'" the voice said, mocking Barbara's voice in a high pitched and squeaky tone. "I doubt I'll get in trouble if no one can find me. And they won't,"

"How can you be so sure?" she questioned the voice, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Because,"

The voice paused for a few seconds before continuing. "Because no one has ever found me. And no one ever will. I'm just that good,"

There was a much longer pause this time, and for a moment, Barbara thought that she might actually be alone.

"But I can find _you_ ,"

This startled her more than anything else this mysterious voice had said so far, her heart beating rapidly and beads of perspiration beginning to form on her brow.

"What do you want with me?" she demanded, starting to get more and more desperate.

"Don't think I didn't see that little stunt you pulled this afternoon, Gordon,"

Barbara whirled around again, her heart in her throat at the sound of the voice. It seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. She scanned the shadows desperately, looking for whoever was trying to scare her.

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about," she said in as steady a voice as she could muster, relieved that her "assailant" didn't seem interested in her person, but more so something that she did.

"Oh I think you do," the voice said again.

"No I don't! So why don't you tell me what I 'supposedly' did wrong?" she fired back at the shadows, a smirk making it's way across her features, believing that she had cornered her opponent despite her obvious disadvantage.

"You know what you did Gordon, and I will make sure that you get what's coming to you if you so much as twitch. Leave Sarina Trieson alone or else. This is a warning. Heed it before you regret it,"

Barbara's eyes grew as she heard the figure in the shadows threaten her. In an instant, the lights overhead flickered back to life as if they had never once been out to begin with.

"I'm not afraid of you!" she said, as she gradually began to make her way down the hallway again, soon breaking into a sprint as she saw her room in sight, slamming the door behind her and trying desperately to catch her breath. She placed a hand over her rapidly beating heart, urgently attempting to get it to calm down from the nearly traumatic experience that she had just had. She sunk down to the floor, bracing her back against the door, so happy to finally be safe at last.

The figure emerged from the shadows, a smirk spreading across Dick's face at his triumph.

"Oh, but you should be,"

* * *

Sorry it has been so cotton picking long since I've updated! It seems that Summer is even more busy than when I'm in school! Lol! So, what do you think of this chapter? I wanted to do one that centers on Dick and Dina, but also has a bit of her team and some Barbara jealousy! I really wanted to incorporate Dick's role of "Robin" in a more traditional way, like poking around at night or in shadows and making people squirm! Hope everybody enjoys this, and knows that I will NOT give up on this story! So here it is! Next chapter! Enjoy it everyone!

Love, WOBE.


	20. Belonging

"The team competition is about to begin," the announcer stated over the loudspeakers, interrupting the animated chatter coming from the different schools, the teenagers turning their attention to the commentators' box.

"You ready for this?" Raquel asked Dina, leaning closer to the fifteen-year-old.

Dina gave a curt nod, her face stoic and not betraying the complete terror that she was feeling at the moment instead of the calm demeanor that her exterior eluded to.

"Looks like 'All-business Dina' has finally made an appearance," Irma commented, trying her best to hide her smile and failing miserably.

"I don't think she ever left," Roy commented, frightening the trio of girls at his sudden appearance.

"Roy!" Raquel exclaimed, smacking the taller boy in the arm. "Don't sneak up on us like that you jerk!"

Roy replied with a shrug of his shoulders and a cheeky grin, unable to keep it at bay.

"Whatever the lady's want," he said mockingly, performing an overly dramatic bow at the same time.

Dina could hold back the smile the curled at her lips when she saw the redhead rub his arm, Raquel's hit obviously being harder than it had looked. She hastily shook her head, freeing it from the distractions that had suddenly weaseled their way into her mind.

 _"Focus,"_ she told herself, mentally stealing her nerves, her hands involuntarily clenching into fists.

Each event had been organized with the different members of each school going in the exact same spot for each piece of competition, beginning first with the men's rings and then moving on to women's balance beam. The final event of the evening would be the men's Pommel Horse right after the women's and men's floor routines.

Dina looked out on the crowd and sighed, wishing with all her might that a certain blonde headed girl and a loudmouthed boy were among the throngs of people, a black-haired woman accompanying them and keeping them out of trouble.

"It's ok Dina. You know they would be here if they could," Irma comforted the black-haired girl, giving her a sideways hug.

"I know. It still doesn't keep from wanting them to be here. I know how much Mom would love to see all of this too," Dina replied, gesturing to the arena and all of the differentiating equipment laid out. "She always dreamed of having something like this for me, but she couldn't. I want her to see just how much her diligence in taking me to practice and encouraging me even when I wanted to quit, payed off,"

"Then we'll just have to be extra proud of you in her place," Raquel supplied, a smile lighting up her face as she placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Thanks guys," she said, smiling at her friends and pulling them into a group hug.

"Alright guys, get in here," Coach Curry called to the three girls, beckoning them towards himself, Roy and Kaldur with his hand.

As soon as the five teenagers were gathered around their coach, he began to speak.

"Now, tonight is going to be far more relaxed than the last couple of days have been because all of your personal scores and skills have already been tabulated and processed. Now the judges are looking for how well you do as a team and whether or not you allow yourselves to slack because there are more people doing the same event as you. Now I know that none of you will slack off because otherwise there will be no snow cones to celebrate tonight,"

The group snickered at their coach's threat, because despite it sounding rather childish and unimpressive, it really would get them all to smarten up; he always paid for their frozen treats, no matter what size they chose or how many flavors.

"I want all of you to know that no matter how you do tonight, I am _immensely_ proud of you and you should be pleased with all of your hard work. I couldn't ask for a better team than the five of you. Now go out there and do your best!" he said, hugging his students to himself as best as he could, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"Good luck Kaldur. Roy," the girls wished the boys as they began preparing themselves for the rings since it was the first event of the evening.

"Thank you all," the pair whispered back, shaking the hands of all present and receiving a slap on the back from Roy as they began making their way to join the rest of the young men who would also be participating in the rings.

* * *

Dina felt her eyes inexplicably being drawn away at different times during the night to a specific area of the arena that was situated almost directly across from her, a young man capturing her attention when none of her teammates were doing any of part of the program.

 _"I wonder what's going through his head right now?"_ she thought to herself, her chin resting in her hand and gazing off in the direction of the Gotham Academy team.

Since he had been one of the first competitors to go on the rings, Dick needed to find a way to keep himself preoccupied with something and he had been doing a variety of different things to entertain himself. Currently, he had been keeping himself preoccupied with stretching, taking notes, or meditating. Presently, he was sitting on the floor cross-legged in a position that could only be interpreted as deep meditation. How he could keep his composure and stay in that position for so long without once peeking open an eye, boggled Dina's mind.

 _"It must have taken him years to perfect his technique,"_ she thought.

Before Dina could even process what was going on, she felt a hand on her shoulder jerking at the sudden contact.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," the blonde girl apologized.

"It's fine Irma. It was my fault for spacing out. What is it?"

"It's the uneven bars next and you are the first one to go for our team,"

Dina took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. She turned toward Irma and offered her a tiny smile.

"Thank you for letting me know Irma. Let's do our best, okay?" Dina told her placing a friendly hand on the other girl's shoulder.

Irma nodded, grinning back at the black-haired girl.

"Will those participating in the next event please line up in the appropriate order," the announcer told the teams over the loudspeaker, about half of the girls being ushered to the floor by their coaches and encouraged by their male teammates. The other half of females had been directed towards the vault and a third group of gymnasts, this one male, had been organized to take their turn on the parallel bars.

The three girls joined the ever-increasing group of gymnasts that started to form on the floor, the intensity of the moment growing by the second.

Dina eyed the redheaded girl closer to the front of the group, laughing amiably with the curly-haired blonde next to her.

Without warning, Barbara turned her head, her eyes landing on Dina's form. Instead of showing any obvious signs of disdain like Dina expected her to, she turned back towards her teammate, tilting her chin upwards and therefore forcing her nose higher than it should have been. While most would have ignored this, Dina clearly understood it as a snub against her. It was a way for Barbara Gordon to clearly state that she was better than Dina and she would prove it no matter what.

Dina would do anything to keep that from becoming a reality.

Raquel placed her hand on the girl's shoulder in a reassuring manner, her expression saying, _"Don't worry. You're gonna show her who's the best,"_

Dina's blue eyes showed that she comprehended the message, and her nod confirmed that she believed what the dark-skinned girl was saying was the truth.

Time seemed to tick by outstandingly slow as the girls waited for their turn on the uneven bars, each competitor apparently taking longer than the previous one despite the fact that, that wasn't the case by any means.

Dina began to wring her hands in nervous anticipation, a particularly bad habit that she had picked up from Wally who had stated that it was, "Pacing for when you have to be standing still,". The redhead had first begun pacing whenever the anxiety had become too much for him to bare, but of course Artemis had gotten extremely annoyed by it, forcing Wally to cease the practice. He tried several other disgusting traditions in an attempt to replace his "beloved" pacing, but alas, everything that he endeavored was cruelly shot down by a certain blonde. Eventually, he switched to hand-wringing; after nearly a dozen negative affirmations from Artemis had finally thrown up her hands, claiming, "I give up!". He had consistently performed said habit whenever he grew overly anxious, ever since.

Dina smirked at the memory floating around in her brain, a memory that helped her forget just how worrisome she had become; and then her peaceful revelry ended.

"Sarina Trieson?" a woman with a clipboard began asking down the line, a brunette pointing closer to the back of the line, where the dark-haired girl was blissfully lost in thought.

The woman nodded her thanks as she made her way down the line until she was standing almost directly in front of the fifteen-year-old.

"Sarina Trieson?" she asked said girl.

"Huh?" Dina stuttered, pulled out of her thoughts by an unfamiliar voice.

"Are you Sarina Trieson?" the woman tried for a second time with the teenager.

"Oh! Yes, I am. What's wrong?" Dina replied, shaking her head to clear it of the thoughts that had been bombarding her earlier.

"You are up next. I was told to inform you," the brunette woman told her, hugging her clipboard closer to her chest.

"Oh. Thank you for letting me know,"

"Of course," she replied warmly before she turned around and walked away with a purpose to her stride, her tight bun bouncing with every step that she took.

Dina took a deep breath for what seemed like the thousandth time in that day alone, trying to steady her rapidly beating heart and her quickened pulse. She glanced in the direction of the Gotham Academy section of seats, the only occupant being Dick who was obviously getting himself ready for the parallel bars; and yet, he took a moment to stop and look directly into a pair of Sapphire eyes, making sure that they were looking into his.

He sent her an affirming nod, mouthing the words, _"You got this,"_

She replied with her own positive nod, turning her attention back to the front, where the lady with the clipboard ushered her forward with her hand.

Dina steeled her nerves, forced her hands to her sides, and walked forward with purpose.

She could see a shock of red out of the corner of her eye, but she ignored it, determination coursing through the veins that fear had once been the sole ruler of.

She was ready.

And there was nothing to hold her back.

* * *

The phrase, "Time flies when you're having fun," held new meaning for several people that evening. It felt like it had taken an insufferable amount of time to finally compete; yet a turn came and gone with the snap of fingers, taking several minutes but gave the sense that it had only taken up five seconds of one's busily scheduled evening.

Dina had to blink her eyes – three times – once she had finished, her brain trying it's best to catch up to her rapidly traveling feet.

A tap on her shoulder alerted her to the presence of another living being, pulling her mind back into the real world and away from the realm of her subconscious. She whirled around and was greeted by a familiar sight. She released a relieved sigh upon noticing that her attention wasn't being demanded by anyone from her team, but rather the one competitor that had been invading her imagination as of late.

"I saw your routine on the uneven bars. It was an adequate presentation," he told her, a smirk lighting up his face.

"Adequate?" she asked, planting her hands firmly on her hips as she attempted to keep her emotions as placid as possible even though a smile was crawling just underneath the surface.

"You heard me," he replied, his facial features not betraying the emotions that were playing inside his mind and heart as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Are you saying that I could have done better?"

"Each person has the opportunity to improve their skills, no matter what they may be," he informed her snidely, an air of superiority laced into his words.

If Dina hadn't known better, she would have assumed that he was trying to pick a fight; but the slight upturn of his lips gave her different information than what his words were portraying.

"Why do I feel like I've known you my whole life?"

Dick's expression swiftly transformed from indifference and snark, to surprise, his electric eyes growing wider.

"What?" Dina asked, unsure as to what had caused Dick's sudden alteration of attitude. In an instant, her own eyes enlarged, realization dawning on her as she slapped a hand over her mouth, her cheeks beginning to increase in color and heat.

Had she said that out loud?

She certainly hadn't meant to allow it slip past her lips. Her thoughts were supposed to be just that; thoughts. They weren't supposed to be set free into the open air for everyone within the immediate area to receive. Dick wasn't even intended to be privy to her innermost opinions of the past few days.

Without warning, Dick began to chuckle, the amiable sound low and quiet before it started to grow in its intensity, becoming full-blown laughter eventually that nearly had him crumbling to the floor due to its force.

"Wh-what's so funny?" Dina demanded, getting more flustered with every passing second.

"You!" he exclaimed, trying to reclaim his stolen breath.

He stood from his bent position after his laughing fest had subsided, straightening his back and resuming the towering figure that he was originally, offering the girl before him a comforting smile.

"You think that what you said was embarrassing,"

Dina oddly found the floor very interesting at that moment, knowing that the boy had just confirmed her fear about her words. Was that a herring bone pattern in the carpet? Or was it more of a chevron pattern?

"But it wasn't,"

Dina looked up with shock, clearly intrigued by his reply.

"You actually voiced what I have been thinking about ever since we first met. How is it, that two people who never knew the other existed until a few days ago, suddenly feel this, connection?"

Dina blinked, not knowing how exactly to go about answering this inquiry.

Dick reached for her hand, his larger one encircling around her digits. The sensation that went through Dina's spine at the contact brought pink back to her cheeks and forced her heart to increase its pulse instead of slow down like she had originally been seeking.

"I'll tell you how,"

"Please do," Dina told him, looking deeply into his sapphire pools.

"We share a connection because you and I are cut from the same cloth. Orphans adopted by a couple of generous souls in need of company and the ability to give their compassion to someone else. We've experienced more loss, pain and grief than most teenagers our own age; and yet, we pulled through and are at the top, ready to take on anything that the world throws at us,"

Dina gazed at him wide-eyed, in awe that a fifteen-year-old could possess such knowledge in spite of his few years.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" he asked, now concerned that he had overstepped his boundaries or gone into something far too personal for the moment.

"No. I was just – how do you know so much?" she asked honestly.

Dick shrugged.

"I had to grow up fast,"

He leaned forward slightly, checking over his shoulder to make sure that the coast was clear before he whispered, "Also, one of the perks of having a British butler,"

His smile turned cheeky, causing his arm to receive a slight smack from the girl standing across from him.

"You Goob!" she chuckled.

"And what pray tell, is a 'Goob'?" he queried.

"It's my own combination of words that I made up a few years ago," she explained.

"And what would the two words that collaborate together to make that one, be?"

"Good and dweeb,"

"So does that make me a good dweeb?" he asked, arching an inky eyebrow.

Dina rolled her eyes.

"I only really ever used it when I was young and I would be 'playfully' upset with my friend Wally, but I barely ever use it anymore. My Mom says it's like one of my terms of endearment,"

"Well in that case," he said, pulling her into a hug and forcing a very uncharacteristic squeak out of the girl. "I love it," he whispered.

"Glad to hear it," she replied happily, hugging him back.

"Would the competitors please prepare for both men's and women's floor routines. They will begin in ten minutes," the announcement was made over the loudspeakers, forcing the pair of teenagers to break apart from their embrace.

"Good luck," Dina told him, tossing him a smile over her shoulder.

"Pft! I don't _need_ luck! I got skill!" he told her, giving a dismissive hand gesture.

Dina rolled her eyes at his self-proclaimed talent; not that he was exaggerating or anything, but still. It didn't hurt to at least _pretend_ to be humble; sometimes.

Dina reluctantly returned to her group, Irma talking a mile a minute about how much she disbelieved the excellence with which she had performed on the balance beam that evening and declaring that she had never seen Dina do such a detailed and meticulous routine.

"Dina? Are you listening to me?" Irma asked, worry showing on her face as she looked to Raquel for advice.

Raquel simply shook her head and smiled.

"I think we've lost her," she said after she had attempted to break the girl out of her trance by snapping her fingers in front of her face.

"Where is she?" Irma said in an urgent voice.

Raquel glanced across the room at the black-haired boy who was by all appearances, being interrogated by his own teammates.

"Some place far away from here," the dark-skinned girl whispered, her lips curling upwards as a thought entered her mind.

 _"Oh I am so going to tease her about this now!"_

* * *

I hope it wasn't too long of a wait this time! I have had little spare time between work and company, so a down day is always welcome; it means I get to work on stories! I hope you all enjoy this chapter and the more *SQUEAL* contact that comes between our favorite pair of birdies! LOL!

Honestly, I call my brother Goob all. The. Time! Whenever he is acting crazy, or says something really out there, I elbow him or push him on the shoulder, laughing as I lovingly say, "You Goob!"

I did a LOT of work on this chapter, so please be kind with your reviews! And please keep reading, reviewing, and enjoying this story as I continue my enjoyment in writing it!

I love you guys so much! You are the greatest readers EVAR!

Love, WOBE


	21. Un-Normal

"Let's celebrate!"

the group offered up their approval of Roy's splendid idea, said redhead leading the way towards the cafeteria without hesitation.

Dick smile slowly began to fade as he watched his friends leave at the same pace his jovial attitude fled, a sigh escaping its way past his lips.

He looked back upon his teammates, congratulatory happiness amongst them as they showed off their prized possessions, the overhead lights capturing the brilliance of the precious medals hung around their necks. His sigh came out only through his nostrils this time as he took in their expressions of unrelenting pleasure.

 _"Why couldn't I have just been normal,"_ he wondered to himself, forming it more as a statement rather than a question. He already knew the answer anyway.

"Dick,"

The boy turned abruptly towards the voice that had just called his name, his eyes landing upon Irma.

"You coming?" she asked him, her gaze questioning.

Upon the realization that the entire group was waiting for his reply, his blue eyes lit up, the lights shining in them as his previously lost grin began to return.

"Thought you'd never ask!" he told them, hasty to catch up to them.

Unbeknownst to anyone, was that a particular redhead had been watching.

And a scowl stretched across her face.

* * *

There were some things in life that Dick just couldn't – and probably never would – understand.

Girls.

Why he was an only child.

How mathematics wasn't a sport yet.

Rich people.

Girls.

Why it was called retirement when it was your first time doing it.

English.

Girls.

Arabic.

Golfing.

Not being allowed to slide down the banisters.

Girls.

Water skiing.

Why women still chased Bruce Wayne when they knew he was uninterested; and not giving up Dick for anything.

Girls.

Knitting.

Girls.

Being removed from the soccer team in third grade – it was a completely legal move!

Had he mentioned girls?

The list seemed to be endless.

But one thing that he just couldn't seem to get a grip on, was how in the world his team could be over at the corner table, pouting like the world was going to end tomorrow, while the people surrounding him at his table were joking, grinning from ear to ear and enjoying every possible minute they could spend together.

If logic told the boy anything, it was that it should be the opposite.

This team should be scowling and grumbling about how unfair the world was, while his team should have been swinging from the lights handing from the ceiling with exuberance.

But that's not how it was.

It totally defied logic altogether, throwing it out the window without any second thoughts or backtracking.

He looked around the table, at Irma, Roy, Kaldur, Raquel, and Dina, their bronze medals shining almost as brightly as their smiles as they hung proudly around the necks of their rightful owners.

Dick felt slightly out of place with his gold, the metal seeming to fade and pale in comparison to the attitudes that enveloped him.

His gaze drifted downwards, towards the prize he had won that night alongside his team – if he could call them that anymore – and felt a strange urge to remove it and covertly place it in his pocket, out of sight and out of his mind.

Dina could tell that something was going on with him, his voice barely joining the conversation for the past half hour.

She reached out her hand, hesitating for a moment before she decided to place it on his shoulder.

His eyes drifted up towards hers as he felt the contact, a sad smile alighting across his lips.

"Something wrong?" she asked, concerned.

He was about to shake his head, when he realized that he had been trained and raised to never tell a lie when the truth could and needed to be told – Batman had always been a stickler for being not only above board with the law, but also in his personal life and he had passed that same drive onto the young man.

"Actually, could I speak with you for a moment?" he asked.

Her eyes widened, a black eyebrow rising slightly.

"Sure," she said.

"Not here though. In private," he added.

Dina's eyes snapped with alarm before they settled back down to their normal state, a nod soon following.

"We'll be right back," Dina informed Raquel, who simply nodded and returned to the conversation which included another ridiculously lame joke from Roy.

The pair slowly made their way through the empty halls of the arena, doorways of the gymnasts' rooms lining up on each side of them.

Dick walked slowly, an unreadable expression on his face while he clasped his hands behind his back.

Dina was matching him, step for step as they strolled, keeping his pace perfectly as she patiently waited for when the bomb would drop and he would bring down up the conversation that was obviously weighing heavily on his mind.

She silently psyched herself up for whatever he would say, but when he finally spoke, she couldn't have been less prepared.

"Why are you so happy?" came the query.

"What?"

It seemed like the only answer that she could possibly give, not fully understanding where exactly this boy was coming from.

"Why are you so happy? Your team?" he asked again, stopping this time and turning his attention towards her. He could see the uncertainty in her eyes.

"What is it that makes all of you so, so,"

"So different?" she supplied, hoping that it was the word he had been searching for.

"So un-normal,"

"Isn't that the same thing?" she asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

Dick shook his head, his gaze returning forward and away from her.

"No, they're not. Different implies that someone and/or something is not the same, like those coloring books that have like the same five activities and one of them is 'find the one that is different from the others'," he told her.

"But un-normal?" she inquired.

"Un-normal implies that someone and/or something is _noticeable_. They are not just different from everyone else, but they stand out at the same time, making their mark on the world without even realizing it,"

He turned back towards her, the dim lights from above making her bright eyes shine with awe at the words he had just spoken.

"What?" he asked, worry making its way onto his face.

She shook her head.

"What makes you think that we're 'un-normal'?"

"Because normal people don't celebrate a bronze medal win. They plot and plan for the next year, their medals tossed in a dresser drawer and forgotten,"

"Is that what normal people are like? Then I don't want to be anything close to normal!"

"How can you and your team just sit at your table, laughing and enjoying life even though you only got third?"

"Because to us, third means the world. We are third in the entire state of New York, something that none of us would have ever thought possible only two months ago. We know what it's like to be on the bottom and this makes us feel like we're on top of the world. I wouldn't want to trade that feeling for all the gold medals ever made; and I know my teammates would agree with me,"

Dick looked down at his own medal, grasping it in his head and pulling it over his head, thrusting it towards the girl standing before him.

"I don't deserve this," he muttered in a low voice, his eyes still lowered to the floor – they really did have interesting carpet in this building.

"No," Dina told him.

"What?" he asked, looking at her.

Dina firmly pushed the medal back towards the taller boy, shaking her head as she did so.

"You _do_ deserve it. You worked hard to get where you are and you earned every little fleck in it,"

"But,"

"But nothing. You have earned this and that's the end of it. Our team earned bronze and we are happy with that; and we are also happy for you because you're our friend,"

"You really mean that?"

"Of course I do," she said tenderly, her hand soft atop his own.

Dick cleared his throat.

"Very well then, M'Lady. I accept this token of your friendship with much enthusiasm, and do look forward to our next rendezvous," he said in an over the top British accent, adding an overly-dramatic bow to the end.

"You goofball!" she said, giggling at his actions.

"That's me!" he said, grinning at her as he stood to his full height, offering her his arm which she took – after a much needed eyeroll of course.

As they began their walk back towards the cafeteria, a chuckle made its way past Dick's lips, Dina looking up at him with a questioning look on her face.

"What? What is it?" she asked, uncertain as to what could possibly be so funny.

"Nothing. It's just that, I never realized how wonderful being different can feel,"

Dina couldn't help but smile.

* * *

Alright, so here is the next chapter. I really want to develop this whole friendship thing between Dick and Dina, making sure that it's not a Disney princess film where they fall in love in one day.

I also want you guys to know that you need to stick around for the next chapter because I PROMISE it will have more action and excitement instead of all this ooshy gooshy, sappy stuff that I have been writing that past few chapters. I will also have some more "Hacking" in the next chapter just to let all of you AWESOME SAUCE READERS know.

I have been working really hard to make sure that you enjoy this story, but please remember that it isn't enjoyable to just crank out chapters. I want to enjoy writing them as well. I'm not saying you guys are pressuring me too much – in fact, I enjoy ALL of your comments and how much you enjoy this story that you just can't wait to read the next chapter – but I also ask that you just be a little patient with me! School is starting up again soon, and I will need to focus on that more, so I will do my best to get as many GOOD chapters up in the two weeks – man time has flown! – before that starts.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for all of your support and please keep reading this story of mine! I enjoy it as much as you guys do!

LOVE,

WOBE


	22. Birthdays

No one can really understand time, no matter how many people try to analyze it, poke and prod it, test it, or scrutinize it.

That was how Dina was feeling concerning the last two months. They had simply flown right out the proverbial window, her world becoming chaotic, yet surprising pleasant at the same time.

Her days had been filled with gymnastics practice, her teammates elevating them to a position of prestige throughout the country over the last sixty days. Meanwhile, her nights had been occupied by a computer screen, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she continued an almost fruitless search for a certain hacker.

Frustration would have taken over many times if it hadn't been for her friends, her coach and her mom, her text messages taking over the majority of her cell phone's data, successfully putting a smile on her face.

Her birthday had come and gone, the memories of the celebration held for herself and a specific dark-haired boy by her team still very vivid in her mind's eye. Gifts were given, hugs received, and of course, cake eaten, Dina enjoying every moment, the smile on her face not divulging forth the aching in her feet.

* * *

The amiable conversation of two teenagers could be heard as they rounded the corner of one of the hallways in the dormitory building.

"Did you see the look on his _face_?! I thought he was going to throw up!" Dick said, doubling over with laughter.

"I've never seen someone fit _that_ many marshmallows in their mouth at _one time_!" Dina agreed, joining in with the boy's laughter as they remembered Roy's participation in a rather spontaneous "Chubby Bunny" contest.

Eventually, the peels began to die down to a soft chuckle, soon a comfortable silence settling between them, blue eyes looking up into blue eyes as they stood outside the door to Dina's room. Dina felt her face grow warm, the sudden urge to turn away overpowering her as she tore her gaze from Dick's visage, the carpet becoming interesting again.

"I – uh – got you something," he told her, her eyes returning to look in his own, an expression of confusion on her face.

"For you!" he added suddenly, his eyes growing wide with realization and a blush making its way up his neck.

He hastily pulled a small, simple, white box from the pocket of his black sweatpants, a bright purple bow gracing its surface beautifully.

"I kind of wanted to give it to you when it was just the two of us. That's why I didn't give it to you with the rest of your presents,"

Her gaze shifted from the gift to Dick, as if asking him for permission.

He nodded in reply, smiling warmly as he moved the gift slightly closer to her.

She gingerly took the small present, the intricateness of the bow catching her eye. Whoever had tied it was a master.

"Who wrapped this?"

She hadn't realized that she had asked her question out loud until Dick started to rattle off.

"I know the bow's not the best, but I was in a hurry and it did get a little bit squished from all the time it spent in my pocket. Still, I know that neither of those are a decent excuse because I should have been more patient with it, bu,"

" _You_ did this?" she asked him, surprise written across her face.

"Yeah, why? Is it that bad?" he asked, a mix of consternation and disgust at himself converging on his face.

"No! Actually, I was admiring it. It's quite lovely," she admitted.

"Thanks," he replied, scratching the back of his neck in that adorably nervous habit way he did. A silence began to settle in between them again, Dick suddenly clearing his throat in order to keep it from lasting too long.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Dina asked, uncertain of what he was meaning.

"Open it," he said, gesturing towards the nearly-forgotten box.

"Oh," she replied sheepishly, her cheeks growing red again as she began to neatly untie the gorgeous bow.

A hand flew to her mouth once she had removed the cover of the box, revealing its contents to her.

"Are you serious?" she asked, staring up at his with wide, shock-filled eyes.

Dick simply nodded.

Dina carefully pulled the watch from between the sheets of tissue paper, admiring the sleek, dark purple surface of it, the face a glossy black screen the reflected the overhead lights.

"The WIC 1500 series watch? But this isn't even in stores yet! How did you,"

"Remember, it's not what you know, it's _who_ you know. And I just so happen to have an in with the boss of the company. I also know the production manager and he adores me, so he gave me the very first one off the assembly line – even though I already have one and he didn't know, but let's not dwell on that. And he made it purple," Dick interrupted her, a smirk playing on his lips.

"I-I don't know what to say!"

"Don't say anything. I knew you really wanted one, so I pulled a few strings, and ta-da! Here it is!"

"You did this for me?" she said, barely above a whisper.

"Of course. It's what friends do for each other. Swindle their dad out of some of his product before it's even available to the public,"

Dina burst out in laughter, her friend's jovial attitude making things slightly less serious and even more enjoyable.

"This is incredible Dick! Thank you so much!" smiling broadly at him, Dina threw her arms around his neck, Dick quickly accepting her embrace and wrapping his arms around her hips.

"I'm gonna put it on right now!" she said, pulling back.

She missed the look of disappointment in Dick's eyes as she left his arms and he was forced to let her go.

She started to struggle with the clasp, trying her best to balance the box and work the strap with one hand, while the other was having trouble with the high-tech clasp.

Dick chuckled before her offered his assistance, Dina giving him her wrist so he could work his magic.

"There. Now you're all set,"

 _"Hello Dina,"_ an animated female voice said, startling the girl and causing her to jump.

"What was that?" she asked.

"It's the automated guide of the watch, Crystal. You can also make it a male – whose name is Bezel by the way - or turn it off if you want in the settings. I never have mine on. It gets too distracting. She can call out your travel speed when you're on the Pommel Horse though, so that does come in handy in that instance. Here, I'll show you how to turn her off,"

With a quick tutorial on how to work the device, Dina was soon fluent in how to operate it, able to figure out most of the features without any assistance and faster than anyone Dick had ever seen.

"You're a natural at this,"

"I speak the language of technology," she replied with a smile.

"That's why it's perfect for you,"

A dusting of pink began to appear on her cheeks before realization hit her.

"Oh! I almost forgot! I got something for you too,"

"Oh Dina, you didn't have to get me anything else! I really am enjoying the copy of _The Count of Monte Cristo_ you gave me," he said to her, the girl ignoring his pleas against needing anything else as she entered her room.

Sounds of shuffling could be heard behind the slightly opened door, a slight "Where _did_ I put those?" being heard as well.

Dick started shifting from one foot to the other, his eyes roaming over the lights on the wall, one four feet away from him flickering ominously and causing his hands to itch with the urge to fix it.

Before he could make an advancement towards said source of illumination, Dina emerged from her room, holding a slightly crumpled blue gift bag in her arms.

"Sorry it took me so long! Raquel rearranged the room – again - and I couldn't find it!"

"No problem," Dick told her, offering a warm smile.

"Here," she said, practically plunging the bag into the boy's arms.

"T-thanks," he stuttered, taking the gift and spreading open the sides of the bag a quick intake of air shortly following once he saw what was inside.

He looked up at Dina before hastily turning his gaze back down at the contents of the bag, then back up at the girl, shortly followed by looking back at that bag. He did this several times before his squished her in an embrace, causing her to squeak at the sudden movement.

"How did you know? I've been craving these for _days_!" he told her, eliciting a chuckle out of the dark-haired girl.

"I just figured you could use a little sugar fix. I wanted to give them to you on your _actual_ birthday, but I couldn't find them anywhere around here! Irma was able to find some for me, and I just knew I _had_ to give them to you!"

"These. Are. Awesome! Thank you!" he said, pulling her into another hug before he pulled out the three bags of gummy animals that lay underneath a piece of tissue paper.

Dina couldn't hold back the expression of happiness on her face at seeing just how grateful he was.

"Well, I better head back to my room. Don't want to keep you up to late you know with competition tomorrow and all," he said, giving her one last quick hug before he left. "Night Dina," he added, Dina replying to him with the same sentiment.

As she closed the door behind her, she couldn't help but sigh at the acceptance she had received from the sixteen-year-old. Not only was a huge weight off of her shoulders, but the multiple hugs exchanged by the pair had caused her heart rate to increase quite a bit.

A knock on her door, startled her from her thoughts, causing her to turn around abruptly and open the door, her instinctive reply of "Yes?" dying on her tongue as she felt something warm and soft make contact with her cheek. It was only a split second, but it was enough.

"Thank you," Dick whispered in her ear, a smirk playing at his lips before he was gone, heading back towards his own dorm room.

If her heart had been speeding before, it should be arrested now.

She gingerly lifted a trembling hand to her cheek, barely touching the skin that was still warm and tingly.

Had he just…..

Kissed her?

* * *

Dick sighed as he leaned against his now closed door, looking down at his shaking hands and feeling the heat as it made its way up his neck and across his cheeks, eventually stopping when it came to his ears.

"I can't believe I just did that!" he muttered to himself, completely ecstatic that he had actually pushed to fear to the back and listened to his courage. He had marched right back to her room, determined to thank her for her generosity and thinking of him.

He sighed as he sank into the plush office chair that was at the desk in the corner of his room. He had specifically asked for a room to himself at this new venue, the Gymnastics committee gladly complying to his – Bruce Wayne's son - request, giving him one of the best rooms in the whole place with a spectacular view of the city skyline of New York in the distance and even better; the best WiFi connection in the building.

He booted up his computer, determined to make an appearance for a certain government hacker that he knew, wanting to wish her well.

 _"Happy Birthday Sparrow,"_ he typed, smirking as he read the words over before he clicked send.

* * *

Dina was elated, so much so that she could even focus on her computer screen. All she could do was keep her eyes glued to her phone as she scrolled through her photos from the past few weeks, most of them including a blue-eyed boy as he laughed, performed, practiced or simply sat staring off into space, unaware that anyone was watching him.

She groaned when she heard that she had received an instant message.

The blood froze in her veins when she read the words that alighted upon her screen.

 _"Happy Birthday Sparrow,"_

How had he known?

Better yet, how had he known where to find her?

There was no possible way he could have deciphered that it was her birthday! No way!

Instead of losing her control and demanding an answer from him, Dina responded with a very collected answer, typing her message out at a regulated speed so as not to arise suspicion.

 _"What makes you think that it's my birthday?"_

His answer was surprisingly almost instantaneous.

 _"Just figured it might be. I mean, I haven't 'seen' you in months practically. I kinda miss having an intelligent person to converse with over the vast expanse of cyberspace,"_

Dina actually found herself smiling at that. Whoever this guy was, he certainly knew how to compliment someone without sounding too forward.

 _"Am I wrong?"_ he typed back.

 _"Maybe you are, maybe you aren't. Either way, I won't be confirming or denying you,"_

 _"Ahh! So that means that I could be fifty percent correct!"_

 _"Or a hundred percent wrong,"_

 _"Well that's pretty negative isn't it?"_

 _"Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't,"_

 _"Aren't we being ambiguous tonight,"_

 _"Just one of the things I do best,"_

 _"What are the others?"_

Dina frowned, not sure how to answer that last question, whether she was supposed to be abstruse in her answer or more direct. Did this guy have an interest in her as a _person_ instead of just competition? Eventually she made her decision.

 _"Think I'll let you find that out for yourself. Don't want to ruin anything for you,"_

 _"You could never ruin anything for me,"_

Dina stared at his last message, her cheeks involuntarily heating up the longer she continued to read it over and over. Her left cheek tingled from earlier that night, the remembrance of its significance ingrained into her brain.

 _"Ok, my turn to ask a question,"_

 _"Shoot,"_

 _"Tell me what you know about Nirvana,"_

 _"First of all, that sounds more like a demand rather than a question. Secondly, are you sure you want to know all I do about Nirvana?"_

Dina nodded, blushing in embarrassment when she realized that he couldn't see the action on his side.

 _"Yes,"_

 _"Very well. Nirvana is one of the higher level passwords that was in circulation in the FBI almost two years ago. It was about October I do believe,"_

October.

Dina's heart seemed to stop beating when she read that word.

 _"That was the date on the payoff slip,"_

 _"A date? Who would be careless enough to put a date?"_

Dina hadn't realized that she had typed that answer until she saw a reply from her fellow hacker.

 _"I don't know. But whoever it was, I think they were trying to cover up their tracks,"_

 _"Well they didn't do a very good job, I could tell that much even if I wasn't a hacker!"_

 _"Even if I wasn't a hacker,"_

The words rang in Dina's head as she read them over and over.

They carried some kind of significance, but she couldn't figure out why.

Why was it that she couldn't get it out of her mind.

 _"Even if I wasn't a hacker,"_

 _"_ _So, do you still want your info on Nirvana, or are you in your kitchen making yourself a sandwich?"_

Dina was pulled from her thoughts as her laptop's screen began to flash, the announcement that she had received a new message on the hacker's platform.

" _For the record, I'm actually in my basement if you're wondering,"_ a third party appeared, joining the conversation.

 _"Get lost Timbers. You weren't invited,"_

Timbers. That was the guy who had flirted with her earlier; the hacker who seemed to know Robin from somewhere else.

 _"I wasn't talking to you Bird-boy. Did you ever think that perhaps, the lady might want me to stay? Hmmm?"_

 _"She doesn't,"_ Robin hastily replied. You could practically feel the ice in his words as they were typed.

 _"Actually Robin, I would like Timbers to stay,"_

 _"Really?!"_

 _"WHAT?!"_

Dina smirked at the amount of shock that Robin had managed to portray within that one word.

 _"Sure. Maybe he can shed some light on our current predicament,"_

 _"What predicament?"_ Timbers asked, intrigued.

 _"We don't need any help! I was assisting you just fine without Wood-For-Brains getting in the way!"_

 _"Yeah, but maybe he can give me a different perspective; after all, he did go to juvie once. Am I right Timbers?"_

There was a moment of silence between the three before Timbers typed back his reply, the moment turning solemn in an instant.

 _"It's true I went to juvie, but I'm not proud of it. I never have used my technological skills in any way to hurt anyone. I promised myself I wouldn't ever do that,"_

 _"I admire you for that. So what do you say? Help me out?"_

 _"Anything for you Beautiful,"_

Dina could imagine the man on the other side of the screen winking at her. She shuddered at the thought.

 _"Great. Tell me what you know about payoff jobs,"_

 _"Depends. What kind of payoff? Person to person, company to company, person to company?"_

 _"More like on a larger scale,"_

 _"Ahhh. Country to country? Well in that case, I'm out,"_

 _"No Timbers. Larger scale to smaller scale,"_

 _"So, Country to person? Well then I am most definitely out!"_

Dina was shocked to say the least. How could this guy claim that he would do anything for her – even though she was still apprehensive about the nickname – and then simply turn around and say, "Nope!"

Before Dina could pull out her begging card, Robin 'spoke up' from his own system, a remark that took the girl by surprise.

 _"Come on Timbers. I know for a fact that you know something and you're hiding it. Spill,"_

 _"Ugh! Fine! When it's a payoff from such a large sender to such a small receiver, it tends to be documented and triggered,"_

 _"What do you mean?"_ Dina asked, confused.

 _"It gets marked with a date on the transaction and an alarm is put in place to keep any people with 'special skills' from being able to have the time to copy, paste and document it for themselves. In other words,"_

 _"Whoever set the 'trigger' is safe, the people who see the payoff left with only their own memory of the information; no concrete evidence,"_ Dina typed her reply, finishing Timbers thoughts for herself as she put the pieces together.

 _"Exactly. Leaving whoever made the transaction sitting pretty without any flashback or consequences of any kind. In fact, they end up driving the people and/or person into a complete frenzy because they witnessed illegal action and they are unable to do anything about it. Even if a name were present on the transaction, with an amount and a bank account number, it would still be your word against the offender. It's like seeing someone steal a cell phone from Best Buy, but you are unable to do anything because you are literally inside a glass, soundproof box. It's the same instance here. Whoever did this, did it on purpose,"_

 _"To trap us in the glass box,"_ Robin concluded.

 _"He can be taught!"_ Timbers replied jokingly.

Robin proved that he was less than thrilled with the last comment.

 _"So what do you suggest we do now?"_

 _"Find concrete evidence. It might take you a while and it will be difficult,"_

 _"Whenever is hacking not?"_ Robin asked.

 _"But try to look for a paper trail. Not just a cyber trail, but a concrete trail that leads back to whoever made the transaction that you are currently working on. No one is perfect, so they are bound to have slipped up somewhere. Look for that little chink in the armor they've built up and exploit it,"_

 _"Exploit it?"_ Dina asked, knowing what it meant, but unsure if she really had that sort of thing in her.

 _"With every fiber of your being,"_ was the reply she received from both men.

 _"Thanks for your help guys,"_

 _"No problem. Wait, does this mean that you're leaving?"_ Timbers asked, obviously concerned.

 _"I got a payment to track,"_ she said before she logged off completely, smirking. She sat back in her chair, the feeling of the springs working overtime a lovely feeling to the girl. She clasped her hands in front of her and stared at her black computer screen, the slight reflection of her face showing.

Through gritted teeth she muttered a threat into the night; one that she was determined to see through to the end.

"Enjoy your freedom while you can, Mr. Payoff. You won't be sleeping when I find you,"

* * *

I know, I know! You guys are gonna kill me! But before you do, please read this chapter and accept it as a peace offering! I worked really hard on this, and it is a combination of several weeks of work. I have had busy days with school, early mornings, full afternoons, and lots of homework during nights. I REALLY enjoyed writing this chapter, and hope that you guys all really enjoy it! It has been FOREVER in the making – as you can clearly tell – and I just wanted it to be perfect before I posted it. I also added a little "Present" in here for all the Richrina (Richard x Sarina) fans I've gathered as well as some more hacker stuff. I'm gonna do my best to bring back some of the hacker stuff, making it the central point as much as I can. Also, just to make it clearer to you guys, Dick and Dina are both still doing gymnastics competitions, and this chapter is technically a chapter of memories from what would be like in between the two month time gap. I hope this chapter makes all of you happy! You are the greatest!

Love,

WOBE


	23. Downtime

"Good morning kiddos!" Roy said cheerily, walking into the cafeteria of their current hotel to find his teammates looking like death warmed over.

"Shut it Roy," Irma snapped at the redheaded senior.

"Oh! Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning! Either that, or you're the poor soul who got stuck in the room closest to the street,"

"I don't do well with traffic noises," she muttered, turning her gaze elsewhere.

"If it helps, you could trade with me while we're here Irma," Dina suggested, causing all eyes to turn towards her.

Irma looked at her with wide eyes.

"You'd really do that for me? Why?"

Dina simply shrugged.

"I honestly don't mind the noise. It actually helps me fall asleep,"

"That, and she sleeps like a boat anchor," Raquel added, the entire group busting out in laughter at the darker girl's confession.

"Raquel!" Dina complained through gritted teeth.

"What! It's true! You fall asleep and BOOM! Nothing is gonna get you up! You might even sleep through the apocalypse if you were sleeping when it happened!"

Dina rolled her eyes, turning her attention back towards her small breakfast. However her slight blush of embarrassment didn't go unnoticed by Raquel.

The group parted ways, excited about their first off day this week and eager to get out and explore some of New York City while they were still here which would only be for a few more days.

While Raquel had a million questions that she wanted to ask her roommate, she decided she would curb her curiosity for a little longer until they could converse just the two of them; one on one without any opportunity for a certain blue-eyed girl to make a break for it.

The pair waved to the rest of their group as they headed out in the direction of a little local coffee shop that Raquel had been hinting for weeks that she wanted to check out when they finally made it to New York City.

"I hear they have some of the best turnovers in the country!" Dina remembered her friend saying as she described said pastries with an overwhelming amount of detail. As if she needed to convince Dina any more after she had heard the word, "turnovers".

They sat down with their confections, enjoying the heat of the building and the cozy atmosphere as they waited for their drinks to arrive.

"I hope you don't mind that they don't have a great tea selection here," Raquel apologized to the black-haired girl.

"Nah! It's fine. I've been craving a good London Fog lately anyway," she replied with a dismissive wave of her hand.

The conversation drifted through many differentiating subjects, most of them centered on the upcoming competition that would either end the team's long-running victory or cause it to continue for another rung up the proverbial gymnastic ladder; nationals.

Eventually the two girls had finished their treats and Raquel suggested that they head out and do some actual sightseeing.

"So, tell me. What's going on with you lately?" the dark girl asked as soon as they had left the little building and ventured back out into the winter chill, clutching their paper coffee cups as if they were a life line.

"What are you talking about? I'm just fine," Dina replied, looking through the window of a store display that she couldn't really focus on. Were they trying to sell scarves?

"Now I _know_ that something is wrong! You're looking at scarves! You hate scarves!" Raquel said, her hands falling to a comfortable position on her hips.

Dina sighed, a puff of air made visible in the chilly weather.

"I guess I have been a little distracted lately," she muttered.

"A little?! Girl, you've been out of it for weeks! You're messing up your dismounts, you're certainly not eating as much – I think you've even lost some weight – you're tossing and turning at night in restlessness, you always seem to have this faraway look in your eyes like you're not even with us even when you are… Shall I continue?" she asked, listing off the idiosyncrasies she had noticed were off.

Dina let out another deep sigh before she shook her head slowly.

"No. I should know by now that I can't slip anything past you. Artemis has been on my case lately too. Sometimes I wonder if you two have some sort of secret conversation going on where you compare notes about my daily patterns and habits,"

"What has Artemis been saying?" Raquel asked, starting up their tread again.

Dina followed her example, shrugging as she gazed at the windows they walked past, shops advertising unappealing clothes that were apparently in style, the latest version of different technological devices that simply cost far too much, or the latest food trends that seemed far too good to be true.

"She thinks it's a guy," Raquel's face immediately lit up at the new implication, "but I told her not a chance," and just like that, her face fell yet again. "I mean, I have way too much going on right now to get involved in a relationship much less find a guy and then spend time with said guy,"

"What about _Richard_?" Raquel asked, lacing the boy's name with a certain amount of intrigue, hoping to catch the sixteen-year-old's attention.

She wasn't disappointed.

At that moment, Dina had conveniently started to take a sip of her piping drink, spitting it out and spraying the hot liquid in several directions when her friend so graciously pronounced "Richard" with the exact quantity of suggestiveness needed to get a reaction from her. There was no doubt that Dina's reaction only caused a greater rise in Raquel's suspicion – if the smug look on the dark-skinned girl's face was any indication at all.

"Wh-wh-where did _that_ come from?!" Dina demanded, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her blue and black jacket.

Raquel shrugged in reply.

"I just noticed how cozy you two have gotten lately. I mean, you seem to spend any free time that you have together. Not to mention that almost every practice is a joint practice between the pair of you. You're like, inseparable!" Raquel said, causing the girl beside her to break out in a blush.

"We're not _that_ close," she muttered under her breath.

"Not that close?! Maybe I should get testimonies from the rest of the team too! I wonder who's side they would take?" Raquel asked, feigning thought by tapping her chin with an index finger.

"Fine! I can take a hint. But it's really not like that. Honest!"

"Ok," the darker girl said, dropping the subject although her mind had a different train of thought - _"Sure it's not like that. I'll get you to crack eventually. Just you wait!"_

* * *

His cold fingers felt at home in the pockets of his jacket, his eyes glued to the tops of the skyscrapers above him, windows and concrete fading away into the cloudy sky. His sneaker clad feet plodded against the sidewalks as he sidestepped the people rushing to and from meetings, heading to meet up with friends for dinner, or striding towards the next bus stop or taxi pulled over at the curb.

It felt nice for once to not be cooped up in a stuffy office, fiddling with his smartphone in a futile attempt to pass the time while Bruce droned on about another charity he was funding or the latest product that his company had produced. It wasn't Bruce's fault necessarily that Dick was bored at all these meetings, it was usually due to the fact that most business people in New York apparently couldn't get it in their brains what his father was presenting.

" _Too much caffeine_ ," Dick would always think to himself about the people sitting before him as he successfully hacked into the system, causing a frazzled attendant to arrive into the room moments later, claiming that they had been infiltrated.

Bruce would then send his son a look of warning that only he understood, the boy chuckling to himself and smirking as he left a message about how they needed better security on their systems before he left without any other sign of his presence, folding his hands in his lap as if he were the perfectly behaved rich boy he should be.

Dick laughed to himself as he continued walking down the concrete pathway that laid itself out in front of him. It was nice to be on the other side of these stone and glass giants rather than being on the inside looking out.

It felt like, freedom for once.

Without warning, his stomach growled.

He suddenly looked at his wrist, his eyes widening once he saw the time.

"2:21 already?" he muttered, gazing around him for a decent place to eat.

There were plenty of upscale restaurants in the local area that he knew of due to the myriads of meetings that Bruce Wayne had on a weekly basis in the city, but he preferred to find a hole in the wall, something that Bruce Wayne would willingly agree to visit next time they came and it was just them.

He began to walk again, looking on both sides of the street for something eye-catching. After only a few minutes of searching, he located a tiny place on the opposite side of the busy road, it's door beckoning him. Looking both ways before he crossed the street, he made a run for it at a nearby crosswalk, successfully making it just as the light turned.

He approached the building, stopping for a moment to read the sign, hoping beyond hope that he could brush up his Japanese.

The woman behind the counter looked rather frazzled as she seemingly emerged out of nowhere, her black hair starting to come out of the bun it had been done up in most likely very early that morning.

She greeted him in well-spoken English, asking him what she could do for him.

" _Anata wa nihongo o hanasemasu ka_?" (Do you speak Japanese?) he asked, perusing the menu that was laid out above the counter, prices listed both in dollars and yen.

The startled woman was shocked by hearing her mother tongue spoken so well by a teenage boy who was clearly very American before her brain finally caught up with her, a smile breaking out on her face.

" _Hai!"_ she replied, grinning like an idiot.

Dick let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

" _Yoi! Ga hoshīdesu Niwatori no rāmen, Kani rangūn, soshite Harumaki. Onegaishimasu,_ " (Good! I want Ramen with chicken, Crab Rangoon, and Spring Rolls. Please,) He said, placing his order in perfect Japanese.

She nodded, writing down his order and handing him a pair of chopsticks.

" _10-bu. Anata wa yoi nihongo o hanasu, Tokorode_ ," (10 minutes. You speak Japanese well, by the way,) she told him, sending him another warm grin.

" _Arigato!_ " (Thanks!) he replied, returning her bright expression before he walked towards an empty table, pulling off his jacket and draping it carefully over the back of his chair. As he sat, he gazed out the window, watching the people as they passed by, nothing deterring them from wherever they were going. Dick smiled wistfully, enjoying a pastime that he and his father had done many times when they were out and about. They would come up with stories about the people who stuck around at the stop lights, bus stops or who tried in vain to get a taxi to notice their raised hands.

Dick sighed as the memories started to flood into his mind – that was before they were so rudely interrupted by his phone beeping. He groaned as he pulled the phone from his jeans pocket, sliding it up till it was in front of his eyes. His blue orbs widened when he realized that it was an alert from a certain hacker he had lost track of over the past week. He eagerly searched the internet in an attempt to locate his prize, grinning broadly and letting out a barely audible, "Bingo!" once he had.

Oh he was going to enjoy this!

* * *

"Isn't that Richard?" Raquel said.

Dina rolled her eyes at her friend's lame attempt at trying to get her to crack – even if she had been tricked by the same inquiry several times that day.

"Nice try Rocket. I'm not falling for that trick again!" the girl replied, proud of her resolve.

"No! I'm serious this time! Isn't that him?"

Dina rolled her eyes again. "Where?" she asked, deciding to humor her friend at least one more time.

"Right there," Raquel replied, pointing to a restaurant across the street, a black-haired boy sitting in one of the window tables all by himself. She was honestly shocked when it seemed that the dark-skinned girl might actually be trying to tell the truth this time.

Dina peered closer, leaning forward slightly to try and get a better view. She decided to actually get closer and advanced towards the building, looking both ways as she made her way across via one of the crosswalks.

She didn't hear the calls from her friend as she chased after her, getting closer and closer to her destination and the boy who happened to be in a small, Japanese restaurant.

As soon as she got to the door, she recognized the boy, opening the entrance to the establishment and walking in before Raquel could hinder her.

"Hey! Fancy meeting you here!" Dina said, startling the teenage boy. His surprise was evident by how he practically jumped out of his seat, clutching his phone to his rapidly beating heart before he swallowed, closing his eyes to steady his emotions.

"Don't do that!" he said once he had regained his composure, sitting back down and motioning for Dina to follow his example.

Just as she had pulled out her chair and was about to sit, Raquel burst through the door, grabbing the girl by her forearm.

"Don't do that!" she said through gritted teeth.

"I just told her the same thing," Dick told the darker girl.

Raquel had to blink once she saw the boy, his legs crossed and his hands folded on the table as if he were proposing a business deal of the highest degree.

Dina was taken aback at how professional he looked. You would never be able to tell that he had been scared spitless only a few moments ago.

"Please, join me ladies. Unless of course," he leaned forward, his teeth shining under the lights of the cozy building, "You have someplace better to be,"

Dina instantly broke out into peals of laughter, slapping her knee while Raquel stared at her friend with one eyebrow raised.

"Is that you shpeal you pull when you're trying to close a deal?" she asked once she had settled down, chuckling slightly as she wiped a stray tear away from her eye.

"Actually, it's what I say to the big wigs to get them to take me seriously. For some reason they accept my whole 'intimidation tactic' without a second thought. Guess they don't want to anger the son of Bruce Wayne,"

"Wonder why," Raquel muttered.

"Anyway, I would love it if you could stay. Have you eaten lunch yet?"

"We really don't want to impose, besides," Raquel began to excuse before Dick interrupted, laying his forearm on the table and whipping out a _very_ shiny black card.

"I'll pay," he said, his voice an octave deeper sent a shiver down both females' spines.

"Alright. I guess we can stay for a little while," Raquel finally gave in, relinquishing her grip on her friend's arm. She took the seat in between the pair already seated, determined to be in the middle of the drama; even if there would be none.

"Excellent!" he said, clapping his hands together in excitement, rising from his seat and heading towards the ordering counter.

"Wait, where are you going?" Dina asked, her curiosity piqued.

"I didn't order a drink. Besides, I have an in with this place," he replied winking.

"But, you don't even know what we want," she argued feebly.

"Pft! I got this! Trust me," he told her, continuing his treck towards the counter.

As soon as he got there he leaned over the counter and yelled something to the back of the shop.

"What did he just say?" Raquel asked, unsure if she heard right.

"It sounded like, 'Yui'," Dina replied, shrugging.

Dick leaned on the counter, his legs crossed in a very easy-going stance allowing Dina a perfect view of his well-toned back through his slightly loose black tee, and a tantalizing image of his flawlessly fitting jeans outlining almost every muscle of his behind and legs. It was almost too much.

Almost.

He laughed amiably with the Japanese lady at the counter as if they had known each other for years, speaking back and forth before the spell was broken, and before she knew it, he was back at the table seated across from Dina yet again.

"Were you just, talking in Japanese?" Raquel asked, breaking the sudden silence.

Dick nodded, folding his hands on the table again.

"My dad thought it would be good for me to learn a few different languages for whenever we left the country for business trips. He refused to ever leave me at home. Thought it would be good for me to get out and 'see the world',"

"Languages? As in plural?"

"Yep,"

"So, how many does languages mean? Like, number-wise?"

"At the moment? Not including English, five. No, five and a half. I'm currently in the process of learning Swedish. Dad has a business trip there in two months, so I've been learning the language so I can at least keep some conversation going. Besides, some people there only speak Swedish. I need to know enough to get around the country while Dad's busy hob-nobbing with the businessmen,"

"So what languages do you know then?" Dina asked, intrigued by the current topic of conversation.

"Let's see, there's Romanian, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Russian. And of course, currently working on Swedish,"

"Wait, you know Romanian? Why?" Dina asked.

"Because I am Romanian," he replied nonchalantly.

Dina stared at the boy who suddenly excused himself to head to the counter to retrieve their food. He had said he was Romanian just like that. As simple as if he were telling someone his favorite food or his dad's birthday.

"Mind if I pray?" Dick asked as soon as he was situated in his seat again.

Raquel shook her head, replying for the both of them. "Not at all,"

Dick gave a quick nod before he bowed his head and prayed a silent prayer over the food, one that was slightly audible but not by any means intelligible.

"Right! Let's eat," he said, excitedly reaching for one of the plates of food.

"They're all the same thing, so just pick one and dig in! I hope you don't mind, I got Spring Rolls and Crab Rangoon as well,"

The girls soon began to eat as well, enjoying the flavors of the noodles and the meat.

"You sure know how to pick restaurants! How did you know about this place?" Dina asked, changing the subject.

"I didn't. I just found it. The places with the best food and usually the most authentic are the little hole in the wall shops like this one. A place that all the yuppy people avoid like the plague. I like these kinds of places though. Makes it feel like you're welcome. Not stuffy and aristocratic like those haughty places my Dad has to take me to for meeting possible business partners,"

"You really don't like your Dad's business do you?"

"No. actually, I love what my Dad's business does. I support all of his endeavors and his ideas for products. I what I dislike if how people try to get into his good graces, finagling their way into the company by attempting to wow him or charm him with their ridiculous wealth, prestige and power. The nice thing though is that my Dad is an expert at reading people and he knows exactly what to do, no matter the situation. I wanna be like that someday,"

"I'm sure you're gonna make a great President one day," Raquel encouraged him.

Dick smiled at the girl.

The conversation changed to several different topics throughout the afternoon, the trio laughing to each other's stories, Dick even speaking in other languages to make the girls giggle. Eventually, Dick noticed that the sun was starting to set, knowing that they better head back to their hotel.

"I'll walk you," Dick offered after paying for their meals.

"No, that's fine. We wouldn't want to impose," Raquel said.

"Nah, no imposition. We're in the same building. I'm just at the opposite end. Besides, I gotta work off this meal somehow," he said, winking as he slipped on his coat.

The trio strolled along silently, Dick pointing to different buildings and explaining what the company made for products, or showing different restaurants he had eaten in or places he had stayed.

Eventually, they could see their hotel in the distance, but traffic was horrible, blocking their way there.

Dick dismissed it with a wave of his hand and told the girls to follow him.

"I know this city like the back of my hand almost," he said as they made their way down an alleyway, the girls practically glued to each other as they avoided the crushed pop cans and broken bottles.

"Hey Walter! Keep those letters flying!" Dick said to a man as they passed his doorway.

"You keep winning those medals Dick!" the man replied, waving to the teenagers.

"Will do!"

"He delivers mail," Dick whispered in explanation as they continued on their way. Before they even knew it, they stood in front of the looming building that was home to all of them in this city.

"Here we are!" he said, leading the way and showing his personal photo ID as he entered the building, the man at the door bowing to the boy politely.

Dick had almost walked the girls completely to their rooms – for Dina had offered to switch rooms with Irma for the night – when his phone suddenly beeped.

"Sorry. I gotta take this. Can you get back ok?" he asked.

Dina nodded, thanking Dick for everything that he had done, which he replied to with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"It was nothing! Have a good night," he said, shaking hands with Raquel and surprising both girls when he kissed Dina on the cheek.

"Sweet dreams," he whispered, winking at her.

As soon as the boy had disappeared around the corner, Dina turned to her best friend.

"Not a word," she said, pointing a finger at the darker girl, passing her and into their room to retrieve some of her items for the room switch.

* * *

Dick unlocked his phone, his eyes adjusting to the brightness of the screen in the dim room.

 _"I think you might want to know, I've got some more information about your 'buyer'"_

It was a message on an underground military site, items sold for far too much because they were no longer available. The name that flashed beside the message is what caught the boy's attention, his eyes going wide.

He had assumed that the conversation from earlier had been dropped, but in fact his "contact" had continued it.

 _"Thanks Timbers,"_ he typed, smiling as he did so.

* * *

I know, I know! I haven't written in FOREVER, but can you blame me? December is the busiest month for me and with all the family and friend gatherings that have been going on, I have had little to no time to sit down and write another chapter. I have worked on this for what feels like ages, but I sincerely hope you enjoy it! It is so hard sometimes to figure out the filler chapters for this! I mean, I know the beginning and the end game, but getting to that point is the hard part!

Still, I hope this makes up for my absence lately!

You guys are the greatest for being so crazy patient with me!

Love, WOBE


End file.
